About Time .....Dammit !!!

[Liberator TJ1984]

Feds have started to crackdown on illegals !!!!!
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal immigration authorities arrested nine people linked to the firm IFCO Systems and rounded up more than 1,000 illegal immigrants in multistate raids, federal law enforcement officials said. :crossx:
Among those arrested and charged in connection with the employment of immigrants are seven current and former managers and two lower-level employees of the company, said U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby.
The operation came as Bush administration officials and a federal prosecutor plan a new strategy aimed at companies that employ illegal immigrants. IFCO is an industry leader in the manufacture of wooden pallets, crates and containers. The criminal complaint involving IFCO charges the seven managers with conspiracy to transport, harbor, and employ illegal immigrants for private gain. :crossx:
Think they are getting the message out I hope :)

[spectratoad]

11,999,000 to go :mad:

[Havasu_Dreamin]

This is the whole article at CNN.com
Immigration arrests 9 bosses along with 1,000 workers
Strategy to focus more on companies that employ illegal workers
From Terry Frieden and Mike M. Ahlers
CNN Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal immigration authorities arrested nine people linked to the firm IFCO Systems and rounded up more than 1,000 illegal immigrants in multistate raids, federal law enforcement officials said.
Among those arrested and charged in connection with the employment of immigrants are seven current and former managers and two lower-level employees of the company, said U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby.
The operation came as Bush administration officials and a federal prosecutor plan a new strategy aimed at companies that employ illegal immigrants. IFCO is an industry leader in the manufacture of wooden pallets, crates and containers. The criminal complaint involving IFCO charges the seven managers with conspiracy to transport, harbor, and employ illegal immigrants for private gain. (Watch the young woman whose boyfriend got hauled in -- 1:06)
Federal authorities checked a sample of 5,800 IFCO employee records last year and found that 53 percent had faulty Social Security numbers, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said.
"That is, they were using Social Security numbers of people that were dead, of children or just different individuals that did not work at IFCO," ICE chief Julie Myers told CNN.
"The Social Security Administration had written IFCO over 13 times and told them, 'Listen, You have a problem. You have over a thousand employees that have faulty Social Security numbers. And we consider that to be a big problem,'" said Myers. "And IFCO did not do anything about it."
A yearlong investigation revealed that IFCO managers had induced illegal aliens to work there, telling some to doctor W-2 tax forms and others that no documentation was needed at all, Myers said.
As public concern over illegal immigration has grown in recent months, federal law enforcement officials have sought to tighten enforcement of immigration laws, through criminal charges against those who employ illegal aliens. Those charges would include money laundering, alien harboring, illegal alien employment and wire fraud.
"We are turning away from focusing only on civil liability," Myers told CNN. "It used to be in these cases that they amounted mainly to a slap on the wrist or a small civil fine. We're now focusing on criminal cases and bringing as many criminal charges as we can when we find employers that blatantly violate worksite enforcement laws."
Asked if senior managers knew or should have known about the alleged violations, Myers said, "There's no allegation of that at this time. It's certainly an ongoing investigation. I will tell you, though, that we are troubled by some of the things that we've seen at IFCO."
She said the company is cooperating with the investigation.
IFCO Systems, based in Germany, with more than 40 offices across the U.S., issued a statement late Wednesday acknowledging the federal action.
"IFCO Systems is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to creating a workplace free of discrimination," the company said. "It is our policy to comply with all federal and state employee requirements."
But the IFCO statement did not directly address the charges.
"Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials today conducted employee background checks at a number of IFCO facilities across the country. We are cooperating fully with representatives from ICE and hope to have this matter resolved as soon as possible," the statement said.
ICE officials said agents made more than a thousand arrests in nearly 40 locations including Houston; Cincinnati; Phoenix; and Albany, New York.
Reprtined without the permission of CNN.com