Egg Mogul Gets Probation in Hiring of Illegal Workers
SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Austin J. DeCoster, owner of DeCoster Farms, one of Iowa´s largest egg producers, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to five years probation for knowingly and repeatedly hiring illegal workers.
DeCoster, 68, of Clarion, could have faced six months in prison on each of two counts, but U.S. District Judge Mark W. Bennett said: "I don´t think you deserve prison time. You´ve done an extraordinary amount of work with the government."
Bennett said he was impressed by DeCoster´s sincere efforts to comply with complex immigration regulations.
"I´d like to apologize for the problem I caused the government," DeCoster said. "We´re making sure it´s fixed and won´t happen again."
Immigration officials detained dozens of DeCoster workers between January 1997 and February 2002. At his plea hearing in August, DeCoster admitted he had ignored evidence that some were in the United States illegally.
The workers were hired by DeCoster´s labor contractor, Iowa Ag. In July, Iowa Ag owner John Glessner Jr. was sent to prison for four months on identical charges. He paid more than $300,000 in fines and to settle a forfeiture claim.
Bennett said he initially thought he would sentence DeCoster to the maximum term, but when he looked at the plea agreement and the amount of money DeCoster already had paid in fines, he changed his mind.
"We gave the judge an opportunity to see DeCoster in another light," said DeCoster´s attorney, F. Montgomery Brown.
When DeCoster pleaded guilty in August, he already had paid $2 million _ including fines, settlement of a forfeiture claim and restitution, to cover the costs of removing the illegal workers and the cost of monitoring his egg farms over the next five years. DeCoster also agreed to surprise inspections and to open his books to immigration officials.
Bennett said he was concerned that it would look as if DeCoster was buying his way out of prison, but he decided that someone who has worked hard shouldn´t be penalized for making money.
He warned DeCoster that his probation could be revoked if he violates any conditions of the plea.
Brown said the agreement requires DeCoster to walk a thin tightrope to comply with immigration regulations.
"We´re not going to be here again. He´s committed to change and he´s taken responsibility for the past," Brown said.
Prosecutor Judy Whetstine and Alonzo Martinez, interim agent in charge for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Omaha, Neb., both said they were satisfied with the sentence. Both said the most important thing was to get compliance from employers.
"We´re confident the word will get out and others will heed the law," Martinez said.
Several of DeCoster´s former managers have faced charges involving illegal workers:
_Francisco Mendez-Orozco, 45, a plant supervisor, helped illegal workers avoid immigration agents, even letting them hide in his home. He was sentenced last month to four months in a halfway house and five years probation.
_Doucas Goranites, 61, of Albany, Ohio, was the general manager of DeCoster´s egg farms from 1998 to 2001. He pleaded guilty in September to aiding and abetting the continued employment of illegal workers. Sentencing is set for Dec. 19.
_Another former supervisor, Miguel Angel Mercado-Martinez, of Belmond, was given probation in January for conspiring to harbor illegal workers.
_Ramiro Salgado Izquierdo, who worked with Mercado-Martinez in Clarion, was sentenced in June 2002 to one year in prison on similar charges.
Last year, DeCoster settled a federal discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of Mexican women who said they were raped or sexually harassed by supervisors at four northern Iowa egg farms. DeCoster and Iowa Ag were to pay $1.53 million to the women and a domestic violence group. Neither company admitted liability.
In 1996, DeCoster was fined for health and safety violations at an egg farm near Turner, Maine. He later settled the case for $2 million.
In 1999, he ran into legal problems after failing to pay overtime to egg farm workers. He paid well over $5 million to settle the claims.
Department of Labor Addresses PERM
A preliminary summary of the December 16, 2003 liaison meeting with the Department of Labor indicates that DOL will not release the PERM regulation for OMB review until the DOL budget is enacted by Congress. Once OMB review is completed (which can take up to 90 days) and if OMB approves, the regulation would be published in the Federal Register. DOL indicates that it expects the regulation to take effect 120 days after publication.
GAO Issues Report on USCIS Application Fees
The fees received by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) are not sufficient to fully fund its operations, according to a GAO report released this week. However, the report was unable to determine the exact amount of the shortfall due to insufficient data. This was due to the USCIS being unable to put a cost on each step in the processing of an application.
From 2001 through 2003, USCIS exceeded its available funds for operating costs by almost $460 million, which created the need for appropriated funds. In addition, the number of pending applications increased by more than 2.3 million to about 6.2 million between Fiscal Year 2001 and 2003. The increase continued even with an additional $80 million annually in appropriations in FY 2002 to address the backlog.
The GAO report stated that USCIS would continue to need appropriated funds to prevent a greater number of applications from entering the backlog. The funds would have to be provided if certain other actions were unable to be met, including increased fees, reduced processing times, and improvement of the timeliness and completeness of fee schedule updates. However, analysis of the cost to process income and pending applications, as well as administrative and overhead costs, must be done before the full cost of USCIS’’s operations can be determined.
The GAO recommended that the Director of USCIS conduct an analysis of the current processing functions to determine steps needed to reduce the processing time to an average of six months or less, to fall within the goals of the 6-month average goal established by the President’’s backlog initiative. In order to determine the cost of processing new and pending applications, the GAO recommended that the USCIS Director perform a comprehensive fee study to determine the costs to process new immigration applications and determine the costs to eliminate the backlog of pending applications.
In addition, the GAO recommended that the DHS Deputy Secretary identify which support services and functions, such as shared services, modernizing and supporting shared databases, shared infrastructure, and other forms of support, and the cost of those functions should be transferred or allocated to USCIS. As for fee schedule updates, the USCIS Director should determine ways to improve the agency's timeliness in implementing fee updates.
Bush, Backers Part Ways on Immigration Reform
By James G. Lakely
The Washington Times
New polls show that President Bush's proposal to grant legal status to millions of illegal aliens is widely unpopular, even among his most loyal supporters.
Opposition to the plan runs so deeply that the Christian Coalition of Georgia, a conservative pro-family organization, has dedicated a panel discussion for later this month that will focus on the pitfalls of Mr. Bush's plan.
"That's interesting," said Phil Kent, a political consultant who hosted a Bush-Cheney fund-raiser in Atlanta earlier this month. "Who knew that the Christian Coalition was even interested in immigration?"
An ABC News/Washington Post poll released Monday showed that 56 percent of respondents disapproved of Mr. Bush's proposal to allow millions of illegal immigrants to gain legal status and keep their jobs. Thirty-four percent approved.
Republicans were equally skeptical of the president's immigration plan, with 52 percent expressing disapproval and 34 percent warm to the idea.
A New York Times poll released Sunday echoed those results. Two-thirds of those polled said they disliked Mr. Bush's plan, and a plurality of those asked said immigration should be decreased, not increased.
A Gallup/USA Today poll released Jan. 13 showed that 55 percent disapproved of legalizing illegal immigrants, with 42 percent in favor. Among low-income respondents, an even greater majority opposed the plan.
Gallup also found that 74 percent of respondents, in general, were opposed to aiding undocumented workers, up from 67 percent who felt that way in August 2001.
The president defended his immigration proposal in his State of the Union address last night, but many conservative activists didn't seem ready to be convinced.
The Christian Coalition of Georgia has invited Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican and staunch critic of Mr. Bush's immigration proposal, to lead its panel discussion on immigration.
Mr. Kent said he expects the normally Bush-friendly Christian Coalition crowd to be angry at what they see as a wrongheaded play by Mr. Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, to attract Hispanic votes to the Republican ticket in November.
For each Hispanic vote gained, many more conservatives could be lost, Mr. Kent said.
"We would prefer that Bush win, but if Rove is going to take the base for granted, he's making a big mistake," he said.
Political consultant Matt Leonardo, who has worked with many successful conservative candidates, said he does not sense the mass conservative anger others detect.
"Anyone looking for cracks in the base will be looking for a long time," Mr. Leonardo said, attributing to Mr. Bush "a Reagan-like ability to rally the party."
"This president has yet to officially make his case for the immigration plan," Mr. Leonardo said. "This president has proved time and time again that once he makes his case, he's trusted by the public. And you'll see that again on immigration."
A conservative activist who has worked to help the Bush-Cheney campaign but asked not to be identified said many people with whom he talks are beginning to justify in their minds a one-term Bush presidency.
"As long as Republicans and conservatives keep the Congress, we can lose the White House," the activist said. "Let Karl Rove put that in his pipe and smoke it, because we can use the Congress to block a Democratic president's judges and initiatives."
Phil Mabry, a Republican from outside Dallas who has worked for his party for 35 years, said the "worst thing" the Bush-Cheney campaign can do is take conservatives for granted.
"He's going to lose thousands of votes that he can't afford to lose," Mr. Mabry said. "Reagan he ain't and Reagan he will never be."
Nearly 67 Percent of Available H-1B Visas Used During First Quarter of FY 2004
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in a January 21, 2004 press release that, based upon its tabulations for the first quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2004, 43,500 H-1B cases that could count against the 65,000 cap have either been approved or are in the queue for adjudication. This figure is about 67 percent of the total number of H-1B visas available this fiscal year. The cap, which had been elevated to 195,000 for three years as a result of the American Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act (PL 106-313), reverted back to 65,000 at the beginning of FY 2004, on October 1, 2003.
Special Immigrant Classification Petitions Going to Nebraska Service Center in Future
The USCIS gave notice of the expansion of its direct mail program by directing that all special immigrant classification petitions bemailed to the Nebraska Service Center as of February 23, 2004 .
The Notice advises eligible members of the international organization community that, as of February 23, 2004, if they wish to file a petition for classification as a special immigrant pursuant to section 101(a)(27)(I) of the Act on Form I-360, Petition for Amerasian, Widow(er), or Special Immigrant, the Form I-360 must be mailed to the Nebraska Service Center. If the petitioner wishes to file an application for adjustment of status on Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, concurrently with the Form I-360, the Form I-485 must be mailed simultaneously (filed at the same time, bundled together in a single mailer or delivery packet, with proper filing fees, to the Nebraska Service Center). Applicants who
file Form I-485 for adjustment of status based on a previously approved petition for classification as a special immigrant pursuant to section 101(a)(27)(I) of the Act, must now file their application for adjustment of status only at the Nebraska Service Center.
Law Accommodates Tax Returns for Illegal Aliens
By Rob GebhartThe Craig (CO) Daily Press
While President Bush urges Congress to reform immigration laws, the Internal Revenue Service has already revised the tax code so illegal aliens can be claimed as dependents on tax returns.
Tax agent Lee Philips heard about the tax reform in early January through H&R Block, the tax company for which she works. By filing a W-7 form, Phillips learned, illegal aliens could obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number and file a joint United States tax return with a legal resident. Illegal aliens could also obtain a tax identification number if a legal resident wanted to claim them as a dependent.
In the past, Philips said, legal residents who had an illegal spouse but legal children usually lied on their tax returns, said they were a single parent, and filed as head of household. This filing status falsely qualified them for an earned income tax credit of $5,000 to $6,0000.
The illegal practice was costing the government money, so the tax code was revised to allow for illegal dependents. A legal resident can file jointly with an illegal spouse and receive a standard joint filing deduction of $9,500 plus a standard deduction of $3,000 per dependent.
A legal resident supporting family in a foreign country can claim his dependents in that country, too, as long as those people obtain taxpayer identification numbers.
It's better to forgo the earned income tax credit and file a legal tax return, because the IRS will eventually find out the return was fraudulent, Philips said. By law, tax agents are required to complete returns as truthfully as possible to the best of their knowledge. So if a man comes in and claims three children as dependents but says he has no wife and would like to file as head of household, Philips is going to be suspicious. She'll wonder who is watching the kids all day.
Other people are caught when they apply for legal resident status. When found out, the IRS requires them to pay back the tax credits, as well as interest and penalties. This can put people in a worse position than they were in when they first came to America, Philips said.
Philips has talked to 15 people about filing W-7s since she completed a correspondence course regarding the forms. She said she is the only tax agent in Craig or Steamboat Springs who files W-7s. However, eligible parties can apply to file on their own. To apply for a taxpayer identification number, aliens must submit a W-7 form, a completed tax return, and a document that proves their identification, such as a driver's license, visa, passport, birth certificate, or foreign voter registration
card. But a tax agent can verify these forms without sending them to the IRS.
Many people interested in filing W-7s are Mexican nationals, Philips said. Birth certificates are problematic for them, because in Mexico one must apply for a birth certificate. But Mexican voter registration cards bear the owner's photograph, and work well as identification.
When she first heard of the program, Philips feared illegal aliens would file W-7s and then their information would be promptly forwarded to the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service.
After speaking to the INS and IRS, she said she was assured provisions in the Patriot Act prohibited the agencies from sharing information.