Employer related ICE enforcement

Date	Company Involved	Industry	Summary
March 29, 2007	Tarrasco Steel	Construction	Employees suspected of using authorized Social Security numbers to obtain employment. 77 arrests were made, most of these Tarrasco workers. 10 face criminal charges regarding document fraud. The company is under ICE investigation.
March 29, 2007	Jones Industrial Network	Temporary Employment Agency	69 Jones employees or Jones' subcontractors' employees arrested pending investigation of their legal status. Jones' bank account seized by ICE. The company is under investigation by ICE.
March 28, 2007	Golden State Fence Company	Construction	Company execs sentenced for knowingly hiring illegal workers: Melvin Kay, 3 years probation and 180 days of home confinement, and a $200,000 fine. Michael McLaughlin, 3 years probation, with 180 days of home confinement, and a $100,000 fine. The corporation must forfeit $4.7 million of its proceeds.
March 9, 2007	Sun Drywall and Stucco, Inc.	Construction	Company president, and 7 other employees charged with knowingly hiring illegal workers and conspiring with counterfeit document vendors to obtain fraudulent work authorization cards for those employees, and harboring illegal aliens. A conviction for conspiracy to knowingly hire illegal aliens carries a maximum penalty of 6 months in prison in addition to other possible fines. A conviction for conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens carries a maximum penalty of five years, a $250,000 fine, or both.
March 6, 2007	Janco Composites Inc.	Industrial Plant	36 suspected illegal workers arrested. The company is under investigation.
March 6, 2007	Michael Bianco, Inc.	Manufacturing	Company owner and 3 managers arrested on criminal charges related to knowingly hiring illegal workers. The investigation is ongoing.
March 2, 2007	Garcia Labor Companies	Temporary Employment Agency	Company president to 15 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, fined $25,000. His companies were required to forfeit $12 million. Garcia was also order to forfeit some of his property.

On December 15, 2006, as part of a plea agreement in the United States District Court in the Southern District of California in San Diego, Golden State Fence Company, a prominent and well-respected fence manufacturer in Southern California pleaded guilty to the hiring of unauthorized alien workers.

Mel Kay Jr., founder and president of the company, launched Golden State Fence Company in the early 1980s and has turned it into one of the most successful fencing companies in California with sales of $150 million in 2004. A recommendation letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers indicates that the Army Corps of Engineers has a “longstanding relationship” with Golden State Fence Company demonstrating an “impeccable” work record and “integrity.” The company has been trusted to work on military bases including Vandenberg Air Force Base and Edwards Air Force Base as well as-ironically, constructing approximately one mile of border fence near San Diego in 1997; however, it is not clear if any unauthorized workers participated on that project.

In 1999, Immigration sent Golden State Fence Company a warning letter stating that at least 15 of its workers were unauthorized to work in the

United States

. According to ICE, Golden State agreed to terminate these employees. In September 2004, ICE concluded that at least 49 employees of Golden State were unauthorized to work in the

U.S.

Three of those employees had been included in the 1999 list of illegal workers. ICE continued to monitor Golden State Fence Company in 2005. Its efforts culminated in the execution of search warrants in November of 2005. The government discovered evidence that allegedly demonstrated that Golden State Fence Company, “engaged in a pattern of hiring illegal aliens.” According to ICE, more than 10 workers who had been listed in notices in 1999 or 2004 were still working for the company and that hundreds of names and social security numbers provided by Golden State did not match.

On December 15, 2006, the company, Mel Kay, and a manager, Michael McLaughlin pleaded guilty in federal court to hiring unauthorized alien workers. The company agreed to pay a $4.7 million fine, which is close to the estimated profit that the company generated from hiring illegal workers. Mel Kay and Michael McLaughlin agreed to pay $200,000 and $100,000 in fines respectively. Significantly, as part of the plea agreement, Carol Lam, the federal prosecutor in the case, has recommended a sentence of 6 months for the two executives. “This settlement and guilty plea clearly show that employers who knowingly and blatantly hire illegal workers will pay dearly for such transgressions," said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE Julie Myers.