Federal Criminal Penalties for Hiring Illegal Aliens

[johnkarls]

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Editorial Note:

The “Great Debate” on Immigration Reform that occurred in 2006 comprised “déjà vu all over again” as Yogi Berra would say.

In 2006, President George W. Bush and the Democrats pushed a legislative proposal to provide a “path to citizenship” for illegal aliens, coupled with a “guest worker program.”

In 1986, Congress enacted the “Immigration Reform and Control Act” which provided amnesty for illegal aliens and criminal penalties for employers that thereafter hired illegal aliens.

The current imbroglio results from the refusal of Presidents George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush to enforce the 1986 legislation.

There follows below a brief description of the 1986 legislation.

The next two items on the bulletin board comprise the statutory language that prohibits employment of illegal aliens and provides criminal penalties for doing so.


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3A Am Jur 2d Aliens and Citizens § 25

American Jurisprudence, Second Edition
Copyright © 2007 West Group

Aliens and Citizens
I. Immigration Laws
C. Other Acts

3A Am Jur 2d Aliens and Citizens § 25

§ 25 Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986

The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 19861 and subsequent amendments sought to control illegal immigration by adopting employer sanctions.2 IRCA attempts to control illegal immigration by prohibiting the knowing employment of illegal aliens, by adding a provision to the Immigration and Nationality Act, under which employers are required to verify the eligibility of employees for employment.3 By establishing an extensive employment verification system designed to deny employment to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States, or who are not lawfully authorized to work here, the Act forcefully made combating the employment of illegal aliens central to the policy of the immigration law.4 IRCA established a new Office of Special Counsel in the Department of Justice to protect against discrimination in the implementation of the employer sanctions provisions.5

FOOTNOTES:

n1 P.L. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359.

n2 H.R. Rept. 98-115, Part l, p. 32.

n3 8 U.S.C.A. § 1324a.
Employment eligibility verification is generally discussed in §§ 1948 to 1970.

n4 Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. N.L.R.B., 535 U.S. 137, 122 S. Ct. 1275, 152 LED 2d 271 (2002).

n5 8 U.S.C.A. § 1324b(c).