DENVER — The raid of six Swift & Co. meat packing plants last week spotlighted the fine line employers face because of increased government scrutiny: Make sure your employees are in the U.S. legally, but don't push too hard to find out.
This time, federal inspectors detained 1,300 Swift workers suspected of providing stolen Social Security numbers to the company. But four years ago, the company's requirement that Latino job applicants provide proof of their legal status led to a $200,000 fine for discrimination.
"Employers are very much hamstrung -- if they go too far, they run the risk of a discrimination lawsuit," said David J. Ceccanecchio, an attorney for Wolf Block in Philadelphia who advises businesses that hire immigrants. "If they accept documents at face value, they run the risk" of becoming targets of stepped-up federal enforcement of immigration laws.
In the last year, the federal government has arrested 716 individuals for employing illegal immigrants, compared with 25 in 2002. In addition to the Swift raids last week, a Southern California fence-building company was fined $5 million for employing illegal immigrants, and two Florida men were each sentenced to more than four years in prison for "leasing" illegal workers to various companies.
At a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff emphasized the importance of focusing on workplaces.
"We all know the primary economic engine that draws in illegal migration is work," Chertoff said a day after the Swift raids. "And when businesses are built upon systemic violations of the law ... that is a problem we have to attack."
Some observers say that attack has changed the dynamic at workplaces nationwide, leading employers to worry more about becoming targets of immigration raids than of anti-discrimination suits.
"There was more of a balance before," said immigration attorney Elena Park of the firm Cozen O'Connor. Federal law requires businesses to have job applicants fill out an I-9 form and to verify that the person can legally work in the United States by checking documents -- usually a Social Security card and photo identification. But employers are prohibited from asking for additional documentation to prove legal residency.
"All the I-9s say in big, bold letters that the employee chooses what ID to show you, and if you ask for more, you can be sued for discrimination," said Angelo Amador, director of immigration policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
