UPDATE: Atlanta Invitation: Thu.Nov. 1st, 8AM-12:30PM - Human Trafficking Community Forum

UPDATE: Atlanta Invitation: Thu.Nov. 1st, 8AM-12:30PM - Human Trafficking Community Forum

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Osborne, Carol L. (ACF) < carol.osborne@acf.hhs.gov>
Date: Oct 26, 2007 3:55 PM
Subject: RE: Human Trafficking Community Forum Information

We at the Administration for Children and Families are pleased to inform you that the
Brent Orrell, Acting Director
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR)
will be  attending the Human Trafficking Forum that is being held on
Thursday, November 1, 2007
at the Arthritis Foundation Building on West Peachtree in Atlanta.
See details below.

Please be sure that you have registered and  plan on attending this important event!

Feel free to share this information with other interested persons! 

 

Carol L. Osborne

Director, Division of Program Initiatives

Administration for Children and Families

Southeast Region  IV

Atlanta, GA 30303

404-562-2831

404-562-2864 (fax)

cosborne@acf.hhs.gov

Download photo Brent Orrell

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and External Relations
Acting Director, Office of Refugee Resettlement (starting October 2007)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Erik Voss < erik@icatlanta.org>
Date: Oct 17, 2007 4:16 PM
Subject: RSVP: Atlanta - Thu.Nov. 1st, 8AM-12:30PM - Human Trafficking Community Forum - Invitation
To: USA-TIP@googlegroups.com
Cc: "Mixon, Vivian (ACF)" < vivian.mixon@acf.hhs.gov>

RSVP by this Friday, Oct. 19th, 2007

Human Trafficking Community Forum
Thu.Nov. 1st, Atlanta - 8AM-12:30PM

Invitation

Hi everyone,

 

Attached is the Invitation letter, Tentative Agenda, and Registration Form for the Human Trafficking Community Forum scheduled for November 1, 2007. Please share with other interested persons. 

Thank you. 

 

Vivian

~~~~~~~~~~

Vivian Mixon

Program Analyst

Administration for Children and Families

Region IV

Atlanta Federal Center

61 Forsyth Street, SW, Suite 4M60

Atlanta, Georgia 30303

Ph: 404 562-2921

Fax: 404 562-2981

e-mail: vmixon@acf.hhs.gov

Details:

=================================================================================================

Department of Health and Human Services

Administration For Children and Families
Region IV
61 Forsyth Street, Suite 4M60 Telephone (404) 562-2800/2900
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8909 Fax (404) 562-2981
Office of Regional Administrator

____________________________________________________________________________________________

September 25, 2007

Dear Colleague:

It is my pleasure to invite you to attend a Community Forum sponsored by the Atlanta Interagency Human Trafficking Workgroup entitled, "Empowerment through Knowledge: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Reintegration". This Forum is designed specifically for Federal, State and local agencies, law enforcement officials, academia, faith and community-based organizations, practitioners from various disciplines and others committed to helping victims of Human Trafficking. The Forum will be held on Thursday, November 1, 2007, from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM at the Arthritis Foundation Building, 1330 West Peachtree Street Atlanta, Georgia 30303.

Human Trafficking is a widespread form of modern slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor. It is estimated that between 14,500 and 17,500 victims may be trafficked into the United States each year. This includes men, women, and children.

The goal of the Forum is to provide information and invoke discussion around the efforts of Human Trafficking laws and the needs of victims. This event will also provide invitees with unique opportunities to exchange views and share information around critical issues impacting victims of Human Trafficking.

I hope you will be able to join us to share your perspective and add a valuable dimension to this important discussion. Registration is free, but is required for all participants. We ask that you complete the enclosed Forum Registration Form and return it no later than Friday, October 19, 2007, via e-mail to: vmixon@acf.hhs.gov , or fax: 404 562-2981. If you are not able to attend, please consider sending a representative. Should you have any questions, call 404-562-2921. I look forward to your participation.

Sincerely,

Carlis V. Williams

Southeast Regional Administrator

==================================================================

Human Trafficking Community Forum

Empowerment through Knowledge: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Reintegration

TENTATIVE AGENDA

Arthritis Foundation Building
1330 West Peachtree Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
November 1, 2007
8:00 a.m. â€" 12:30 p.m.

8:00 a.m. â€" 8:30 a.m.     REGISTRATION/Coffee and Pastries

8:30 a.m. â€" 9:00 a.m.      WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS

Carlis Williams,ACF Regional Administrator

GREETINGS - Stephanie Davis, Office of the Mayor Policy Advisor on Women's Issues

NATIONAL RESCUE AND RESTORE PROGRAM -  Brent Orrell, ACF Acting Director of Office of Refugee Resettlement (TENTATIVE)

9:00 a.m. â€" 10:15 a.m. PLENARY SESSION - "It's the Law" 

(Prevention, Protection, Prosecution)

10:15 a.m. â€" 10:30 a.m. BREAK

10:30 a.m. â€" 11:00 a.m. "Up Close and Personal" (From those who have been there)

11:00 a.m. â€" 12:10 p.m. PLENARY SESSION â€""This is our Need" (Reintegration)

12:10 p.m. - 12:30 p.m. CLOSING REMARKS â€" Alesia Adams, Salvation Army "To Not Lose Heart"

=========================================================================

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Administration for Children and Families

Region IV

Human Trafficking Community Forum

"Empowerment through Knowledge: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, and Reintegration"

Registration Form

Thursday, November 1, 2007, 8:00 AM â€" 12:30 PM

Arthritis Foundation, 1330 West Peachtree St., Atlanta, GA 30303

Thank you for your interest in the Human Trafficking Community Forum. Registration is free, but required. To register, each participant is requested to fill out the following information and submit as indicated below:



Name:

________________________________________

first middle initial last

Organization: _____________________________

_________________________________________

Name

ADDRESS: ______________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________

Work Phone: ____________________________

FAX: ___________________________________

E-Mail __________________________________

Each attendee is required to submit a separate registration form:

Yes, I will attend ____ (check)

No, I will not attend ____ (check)

Please e-mail to: vmixon@acf.hhs.gov or fax to: (404) 562-2981.

===============================================================

Directions to the Arthritis Foundation Building,

1330 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA

FROM THE NORTH

• I-75 South to 14^th /10^th Street Exit (250). Merge onto Techwood Dr NW and proceed to 14^th Street NW and turn left. Proceed to W. Peachtree Street NW and turn leftI-85 South to Exit (84) toward 17^th /14^th/10^th street. Keep right at the fork, and follow signs for 17^th street and turn left. Proceed to .1 mi to Spring Street and turn right. Continue on Spring St. to 16^th street and turn left. Proceed .1mi to West Peachtree St. and turn left. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM THE SOUTH:

• Take I-75/85 North to 10^{th St}/14^{th St}/Georgia Tech (Exit 250) onto Williams St NW. Go 0.6mi and turn right on 14^th Street. Go 0.2 mi and turn left onto (US-19) West Peachtree Street. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM THE WEST:

• Take I-20 East to Exit 57 to merge onto I-75/85 North (Chattanooga/Greenville). Go 3.5 mi to exit (250) 10^th/14^th St Merge onto Williams St NW. Go 0.6 mi and turn right on 14^th St NW. Go 0.2 mi and turn left onto West Peachtree St. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM THE EAST:

• Take I-20 West to Exit 57 to merge onto I-75/85 North (Chattanooga/Greenville). Go 3.5 mi to exit (250) 10^th/14^th St Merge onto Williams St NW. Go 0.6 mi and turn right on 14^th St NW. Go 0.2 mi and turn left onto West Peachtree St. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM GEORGIA 400:

• Travel 400 South to I85 to exit (84) toward 17^th /14th Street. Keep right at the fork and follow signs for 17^th St. Turn left at 17^th Street. Go 0.2 mi and turn right onto Spring Street and continue to 16^th Street and turn left. Go 0.8 mi and turn left at West Peachtree Street. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM MARTA:

• Take MARTA to Arts Center Station and exit toward West Peachtree. Walk North one block on West Peachtree to 16^th Street. Cross the street at the intersection and continue walking North to the Arthritis Foundation Building on the left.

==================================================================

--

Sincerely,
Erik Voss
Secretary - Georgia Rescue & Restore Coalition
404-457-5901 Cell
erik@icatlanta.org

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi

RSVP: Thu.Nov. 1st, Atlanta - 8AM-12:30PM - Human Trafficking Community Forum - Invitation

RSVP by this Friday, Oct. 19th, 2007

Human Trafficking Community Forum
Thu.Nov. 1st, Atlanta - 8AM-12:30PM

Invitation

Hi everyone,

 

Attached is the Invitation letter, Tentative Agenda, and Registration Form for the Human Trafficking Community Forum scheduled for November 1, 2007. Please share with other interested persons. 

Thank you. 

 

Vivian

~~~~~~~~~~

Vivian Mixon

Program Analyst

Administration for Children and Families

Region IV

Atlanta Federal Center

61 Forsyth Street, SW, Suite 4M60

Atlanta, Georgia 30303

Ph: 404 562-2921

Fax: 404 562-2981

e-mail: vmixon@acf.hhs.gov

Details:

===============================================================

Department of Health and Human Services

Administration For Children and Families
Region IV
61 Forsyth Street, Suite 4M60 Telephone (404) 562-2800/2900
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8909 Fax (404) 562-2981
Office of Regional Administrator

____________________________________________________________________________________________

September 25, 2007

Dear Colleague:

It is my pleasure to invite you to attend a Community Forum sponsored by the Atlanta Interagency Human Trafficking Workgroup entitled, "Empowerment through Knowledge: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Reintegration". This Forum is designed specifically for Federal, State and local agencies, law enforcement officials, academia, faith and community-based organizations, practitioners from various disciplines and others committed to helping victims of Human Trafficking. The Forum will be held on Thursday, November 1, 2007, from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM at the Arthritis Foundation Building, 1330 West Peachtree Street Atlanta, Georgia 30303.

Human Trafficking is a widespread form of modern slavery. Victims of human trafficking are subjected to force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of sexual exploitation or forced labor. It is estimated that between 14,500 and 17,500 victims may be trafficked into the United States each year. This includes men, women, and children.

The goal of the Forum is to provide information and invoke discussion around the efforts of Human Trafficking laws and the needs of victims. This event will also provide invitees with unique opportunities to exchange views and share information around critical issues impacting victims of Human Trafficking.

I hope you will be able to join us to share your perspective and add a valuable dimension to this important discussion. Registration is free, but is required for all participants. We ask that you complete the enclosed Forum Registration Form and return it no later than Friday, October 19, 2007, via e-mail to: vmixon@acf.hhs.gov, or fax: 404 562-2981. If you are not able to attend, please consider sending a representative. Should you have any questions, call 404-562-2921. I look forward to your participation.

Sincerely,

Carlis V. Williams

Southeast Regional Administrator

==================================================================

Human Trafficking Community Forum

Empowerment through Knowledge: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution and Reintegration

TENTATIVE AGENDA

Arthritis Foundation Building
1330 West Peachtree Street
Atlanta, Georgia 30303
November 1, 2007
8:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.     REGISTRATION/Coffee and Pastries

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.      WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS

Carlis Williams,ACF Regional Administrator

GREETINGS - Stephanie Davis, Office of the Mayor Policy Advisor on Women's Issues

NATIONAL RESCUE AND RESTORE PROGRAM -  Brent Orrell, ACF Acting Director of Office of Refugee Resettlement (TENTATIVE)

9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. PLENARY SESSION - "It's the Law" 

(Prevention, Protection, Prosecution)

10:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. BREAK

10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. "Up Close and Personal" (From those who have been there)

11:00 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. PLENARY SESSION –"This is our Need" (Reintegration)

12:10 p.m. - 12:30 p.m. CLOSING REMARKS – Alesia Adams, Salvation Army "To Not Lose Heart"

=========================================================================

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Administration for Children and Families

Region IV

Human Trafficking Community Forum

"Empowerment through Knowledge: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, and Reintegration"

Registration Form

Thursday, November 1, 2007, 8:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Arthritis Foundation, 1330 West Peachtree St., Atlanta, GA 30303

Thank you for your interest in the Human Trafficking Community Forum. Registration is free, but required. To register, each participant is requested to fill out the following information and submit as indicated below:



Name:

________________________________________

first middle initial last

Organization: _____________________________

_________________________________________

Name

ADDRESS: ______________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________

Work Phone: ____________________________

FAX: ___________________________________

E-Mail __________________________________

Each attendee is required to submit a separate registration form:

Yes, I will attend ____ (check)

No, I will not attend ____ (check)

Please e-mail to: vmixon@acf.hhs.gov or fax to: (404) 562-2981.

===============================================================

Directions to the Arthritis Foundation Building,

1330 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA

FROM THE NORTH

• I-75 South to 14^th /10^th Street Exit (250). Merge onto Techwood Dr NW and proceed to 14^th Street NW and turn left. Proceed to W. Peachtree Street NW and turn leftI-85 South to Exit (84) toward 17^th /14^th/10^th street. Keep right at the fork, and follow signs for 17^th street and turn left. Proceed to .1 mi to Spring Street and turn right. Continue on Spring St. to 16^th street and turn left. Proceed .1mi to West Peachtree St. and turn left. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM THE SOUTH:

• Take I-75/85 North to 10^{th St}/14^{th St}/Georgia Tech (Exit 250) onto Williams St NW. Go 0.6mi and turn right on 14^th Street. Go 0.2 mi and turn left onto (US-19) West Peachtree Street. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM THE WEST:

• Take I-20 East to Exit 57 to merge onto I-75/85 North (Chattanooga/Greenville). Go 3.5 mi to exit (250) 10^th/14^th St Merge onto Williams St NW. Go 0.6 mi and turn right on 14^th St NW. Go 0.2 mi and turn left onto West Peachtree St. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM THE EAST:

• Take I-20 West to Exit 57 to merge onto I-75/85 North (Chattanooga/Greenville). Go 3.5 mi to exit (250) 10^th/14^th St Merge onto Williams St NW. Go 0.6 mi and turn right on 14^th St NW. Go 0.2 mi and turn left onto West Peachtree St. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM GEORGIA 400:

• Travel 400 South to I85 to exit (84) toward 17^th /14th Street. Keep right at the fork and follow signs for 17^th St. Turn left at 17^th Street. Go 0.2 mi and turn right onto Spring Street and continue to 16^th Street and turn left. Go 0.8 mi and turn left at West Peachtree Street. Parking is available at the corner of 15^th Street and West Peachtree or at Midtown Plaza.

FROM MARTA:

• Take MARTA to Arts Center Station and exit toward West Peachtree. Walk North one block on West Peachtree to 16^th Street. Cross the street at the intersection and continue walking North to the Arthritis Foundation Building on the left.

==================================================================

--

Sincerely,
Erik Voss
Secretary - Georgia Rescue & Restore Coalition
404-457-5901 Cell
erik@icatlanta.org

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi

[Georgia Immigration] AJC Opinion: Tucker: Immigration debate ignores dirty little secret

This is as 100% dead on as it could be, in my humble opinion.
Hats off to Cynthia Tucker. Very impressive.

================================================================
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2007/10/12/tucked_1014.html

Immigration debate ignores dirty little secret

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/14/07

During the fractious, months-long immigration debate, Big Business hid in the corridors of Congress or ducked behind closed doors, afraid to say in public what it whispered in private: We need illegal workers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its allies didn't want to be blasted by conservatives seeking harsh measures against undocumented immigrants.

The dirty little secret is this: Several important sectors of the economy depend heavily on low-wage workers, many of whom are in the United States illegally. And employers in those sectors, which include agriculture, hospitality and construction, don't really check carefully to learn whether their workers have proper documents. They know that if they insist on hiring only legal workers, they won't be able to get crops harvested or houses built or motel rooms cleaned.

CYNTHIA TUCKER MY OPINION • E-mail Tucker

Now, a White House crackdown on illegal immigrants has forced Big Business out into the open. Joined by the AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union, a coalition of business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and small-business associations, went to court to stop the Bush administration from implementing an initiative designed to ferret out undocumented laborers and punish employers who use them. Last week, a federal judge issued an injunction against the crackdown, warning that it could also harm law-abiding workers and employers.

So we're right back where we started: Employers can continue to hire and exploit illegal workers, paying them poverty-level wages while ignoring health and safety regulations. And those workers still have little hope of becoming citizens.

Earlier this year, a pragmatic congressional compromise on illegal immigration dissolved in a miasma of political cowardice, jingoism and lackluster presidential leadership. A bipartisan group of senators worked for months on a plan that would increase spending on border protection; penalize employers who hire illegally; and provide a winding route to citizenship for illegal immigrants who worked hard, learned English and paid fines. But after a backlash from the right-wing fringe, some of those same senators, men such as Georgians Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, backed away from the deal.

Perhaps the compromise legislation could have been salvaged if Big Business had been willing to mount a highly visible public campaign in support of it. If poultry processing giants and titans of agriculture had appeared in TV ads supporting immigration and gone on talk shows to confront the likes of Lou Dobbs — who has made a new career of xenophobia — the bill might have passed. It was in their interests to do so, since it would have allowed many undocumented laborers to keep their jobs.

But Big Business, playing the percentages, declined to step up. When you're making billions off of illegal immigration, what's to reform?

After the immigration bill failed, President Bush promised stronger measures to patrol the borders and punish employers who hire illegally. In August, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced a new initiative to send letters warning employers about any worker whose Social Security number didn't match the agency's records. The employer would have 90 days to either verify the worker's Social Security number or fire him. Employers flouting the law could face stiff fines.

But U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco noted that Social Security's records are full of errors and could unfairly target legal workers. He also blasted the administration for failing to conduct a survey of the costs of the new rule to small businesses.

If the records of the Social Security Administration are that badly flawed, they need to be fixed — in a hurry. Not only has poor record-keeping hampered efforts to curb illegal workers, but it will also lead, inevitably, to false accounting. Those records remain the best way to spot undocumented laborers.

And penalizing illegal employers remains the best way to curb illegal immigration. Mexicans, Guatemalans and Koreans come to this country for jobs. If they learn those jobs are no longer available, they'll stop coming.

The worst thing to do is retain the status quo: Exploiting illegal workers for wretched pay while refusing to give them a path to citizenship. That's un-American.

================================================================

--
Sincerely,
Erik Voss
404-457-5901 Cell
erik@icatlanta.org

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi

Immigration: 2 AJC Articles Today

Two AJC articles today:

1. Little blowback for illegal worker hires
2. Gwinnett companies hiring illegal immigrants avoid scrutiny

-------------

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/10/07/work_1008.html

NO DOCUMENTS, NO PROBLEM FOR COMPANIES

Little blowback for illegal worker hires
Enforcement shifts toward suspected criminal activity

By MARY LOU PICKEL
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/08/07

It was 2:30 a.m. when federal agents arrived at Jillian's restaurant in Lawrenceville looking for illegal workers.

Louie Favorite/AJC (ENLARGE)

Calletano Gutierrez and Unique Environmental foreman Isaac Williams work in Decatur. A spokeswoman for the Metro Atlanta Landscape and Turf Association says the industry employs many immigrants but companies try to hire legal workers.

Is the government cracking down on businesses hiring illegal immigrants?   Yes, companies are now paying the price.   No, it's only the immigrants who are getting blamed. Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results RELATED: • What should happen to Gwinnett businesses with illegal employees?

As the cleaning crew started work on a night last February, agents arrested four Guatemalans who came to mop and vacuum the theme restaurant.

The arrests were part of sting on a Florida-based janitorial service that provided workers on contract to restaurants around the country.

If the janitors at Jillian's had been garden-variety undocumented workers, they likely would have kept sweeping floors. But their employer was suspected by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of violating a collection of laws.

The janitor bust is the new style of federal work site immigration enforcement. Since about 1999 and definitely since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the government has targeted employers who knowingly break the law by encouraging or participating in immigrant smuggling, abusing workers, not paying taxes or document fraud.

The owners of Palm Beach-based Rosenbaum-Cunningham International were charged with evading $18.6 million in employment taxes.

Agents arrested about 200 illegal workers nationwide in the sting, including 13 at four restaurants in metro Atlanta. All 13 were Guatemalan and were processed for deportation, Smith said.

The new enforcement tactic is a shift away from the 1990s, when the government annually issued hundreds of noncriminal fines to businesses for employing illegal immigrants.

The new direction means ICE has drastically cut enforcement efforts against employers who just hire illegal workers in Georgia and nationally. Now, fines for simply hiring illegal immigrants are rare.

ICE initiated only three such noncriminal fines in the United States in 2004, the last year for which national statistics are available. In the southern region, the government issued one fine in four years, for $123,000, to a restaurant in North Carolina earlier this year.

Noncriminal fines are usually issued to employers who don't complete the paperwork to prove an employee has the right to work in the United States.

Federal immigration officials say it's a shift in policy rather than a retreat from work site enforcement.

Mandate changed

The mandate is two-pronged: the primary goal, since Sept. 11, is to protect sensitive targets such as airports, military bases and nuclear power plants. The next priority is to target abusive employers and those involved in immigrant recruiting, smuggling or fraud.

"The sheer volume of our work requires us to prioritize our response among all our investigative duties," said Ken Smith, special agent in charge of the Atlanta office of ICE.

Under the first mandate, the agency reviewed the employment forms of about 5,000 workers at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and arrested 35 illegal immigrants in the past four years, Smith said. In January, ICE raided Fort Benning, another sensitive site, charging 24 illegal workers with document fraud and ID theft.

On the second score, local ICE agents busted Sin Sin Employment Agency in Chamblee in 2005. The couple who ran the agency placed thousands of illegal workers in restaurants in several states. They were convicted of conspiracy and fraud related to immigrant smuggling and were sentenced to prison.

Such criminal prosecutions and seizures hit an employer harder than noncriminal fines, Smith said.

The government says criminal fines, restitutions and civil judgments this year from work site enforcement nationally total more than $30 million, according to ICE. But ICE has not said how much of that money was actually collected or whether it was from a few employers.

It's hard to tell whether the change in approach is having any effect on illegal immigration or on employers' behavior, partly because ICE says data that could illustrate that is not readily available.

ICE did not provide dollar values of fines collected from the 1990s, when the government issued thousands of fines to employers.

But, in 1992, for example, the government delivered 1,461 notices of intent to fine to employers for violating immigration laws. By 2004, there were three.

The number of people arrested at work sites for being in the country illegally has also declined sharply since the change in policy, from about 17,500 in 1997 to about 4,000 in 2007, according to INS statistics and ICE. There has been a recent uptick in arrests in the last two years.

To some degree, states and counties have stepped into the void left when ICE backed away from grass roots enforcement.

Georgia passed a law requiring anyone contracting with a public entity to run new hires through a federal database to ensure the employee can legally work in the United States. Cobb and Gwinnett counties have similar rules for contractors.

But that only affects companies paid with tax dollars.

The state can only regulate licensing, taxation and contracts, said Chip Rogers, sponsor of the law. It can't prosecute immigration violations criminally, he said.

"I think if [federal agents] would go out and find some employers who were violating the law and put them in jail because of it, then what you would have happen is the other employers would think twice about employing illegal immigrants," Rogers said.

'Contempt for law'

The change in policy has other critics.

"If you don't do the mundane work of enforcement and make that a real possibility that an employer will run afoul of the law, then what you do is you create a general contempt for the rule of law," said Steven Camarota, director of research for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank that favors tighter immigration controls.

"Interior enforcement, including going after employers, has had nothing but a precipitous fall over the last 14 years," Camarota said.

Smith said the reason for that is because it's difficult for the government to prove that employers knowingly hired illegal immigrants. Workers show fake IDs that look real, he said.

"The fines became just the cost of doing business for the employer," Smith said. Many levies were bartered down to "pennies on the dollar."

Mary Kay Woodworth, executive director of the Metro Atlanta Landscape & Turf Association, says an employer who is trying to follow the rules but may have some illegal immigrants on the payroll should not be the focus of a federal investigation.

The landscape industry employs many immigrants, but most employers try to hire legal workers, she said.

"Ninety-nine percent of them are filing taxes and filling out the paperwork," Woodworth said. It's not easy to spot fake documents and asking too many questions can violate a worker's rights.

"Do you think the employer can go and ask, 'Do you really think this is a legal document?' You can't do that," Woodworth said. "If it looks legal, that's the most you can do."

1999 marked shift

The shift in thinking on work site enforcement began in 1999.

In July that year, Robert Bach, an executive associate commissioner for the old Immigration and Naturalization Service, told Congress that even if INS tripled its budget it still would "not have a significant impact on illegal workers and certainly not on employers and labor markets."

INS would focus on criminal investigations against employers who engage in patterns of knowingly employing illegal workers, or who seek to hire them through smugglers, or abuse workers, Bach said.

At that time, there were an estimated 5 million unauthorized migrants in the United States, Bach said.

Estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center put that number last year at between 11 and 12 million.

============================

http://www.ajc.com/gwinnett/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2007/10/08/workintro_1008.html

Gwinnett companies hiring illegal immigrants avoid scrutiny

By MARY LOU PICKEL, BEN SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/08/07

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants have moved to Gwinnett County in recent years, drawn by an abundance of jobs at hotels, restaurants and construction sites.

Is the government cracking down on businesses hiring illegal immigrants?   Yes, companies are now paying the price.   No, it's only the immigrants who are getting blamed. Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Result

Their arrival has helped transform a county long cast in black and white. Now one in four people in Gwinnett was born abroad — a higher proportion than any other county in metro Atlanta. Their numbers include an undetermined number of illegal immigrants working numerous jobs.

It's a violation of federal law to knowingly hire an illegal immigrant, but companies that do so in Gwinnett and beyond hardly ever get in trouble.

Immigration authorities say they use limited resources to protect national security and target employers who abuse immigrants, skirt tax laws or forge documents.

"The sheer volume of our work requires us to prioritize our response among our investigative duties," said Ken Smith, special agent in charge of the Atlanta office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In the 1990s, the feds fined hundreds of companies a year for hiring illegal immigrants, but the number of such fine notices plummeted from 1,461 in 1992 to three in 2004.

Federal authorities say the drop is due, in large part, to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The attacks shifted the focus of immigration work site enforcement toward protecting sensitive targets, such as airports and nuclear power plants, and away from cracking down on average employers who hire illegal immigrants.

The feds say now they also target employers who commit crimes, such as abusing workers or committing fraud.

The new focus led authorities to detain seven people in Gwinnett County in February.

Agents detained four janitors at Jillian's restaurant on Sugarloaf Parkway in Lawrenceville and three janitors at Dave & Buster's on Venture Drive in Duluth.

The seven were among nearly 200 suspected illegal immigrants nationwide who were taken into custody amid a national investigation into the janitorial-services company that employed them, Rosenbaum-Cunningham International Inc. of Palm Beach, Fla.

The government charged the company with evading $18.6 million in employment taxes.

As a result of the government's focus on national security and cases involving crime, most businesses that hire illegal immigrants in Gwinnett County and beyond rarely get in trouble for doing so.

Nationwide, local governments, including Gwinnett, have stepped into the void with policies of their own.

"The federal government has obviously ignored the problem for too long," said Gwinnett Commissioner Lorraine Green.

Green pushed a change in Gwinnett's contracting policies in June that requires companies with county contracts to verify that their new hires can legally work in the United States.

Yet the new statute has no effect whatsoever on many employers in Gwinnett that don't seek county contracts.

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FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION IN GWINNETT

Reliable estimates of the illegal immigrant population are elusive. Here's a look at the foreign-born population in Gwinnett and a few nearby counties, which includes illegal immigrants as well as foreign-born U.S. citizens and immigrants who are in the United States legally.

One in four people in Gwinnett were born outside the United States

County	Foreign-Born	Total population	Foreign born (% of total)
Gwinnett	185,449	757,104	24.5
DeKalb	115,997	732,602	15.8
Cobb	102,184	679,325	15
Fulton	117,007	960,009	12.2

How many foreign-born residents are U.S. citizens?

County	Naturalized /U.S. citizens	Non-citizens
Gwinnett	31.4%	68.6%
DeKalb	32.6%	67.5%
Cobb	32.5%	67.5%
Fulton	27.6%	72.5%

Where foreign-born Gwinnett County residents were born:\

• Latin America: 96,983 (52.3% of all foreign-born residents in Gwinnett)

• Asia: 54,996 (29.7% of all foreign-born residents in Gwinnett)

• Europe: 16,333 (8.8% of all foreign-born residents in Gwinnett)

• Africa: 13,981 (7.5% of all foreign-born residents in Gwinnett)

• North America*: 2,940 (1.6% of all foreign-born residents in Gwinnett)

• Oceania: 216 (0.1% of all foreign-born residents in Gwinnett)

SOURCE: U.S.Census Bureau (2006 estimates)

* Canada and some islands

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--
Sincerely,
Erik Voss
404-457-5901 Cell
erik@icatlanta.org

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -- Mahatma Gandhi