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ImmigrationProf Blog
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Civil Asset Forefeiture a New Immigration Enforcement Tool?

By immigrationprof

It appears that civil asset forefeiture is being used as a new immigration enforcement tool.

Last August, the Department of Homeland Security (here) announced that two labor companies, the president of these companies, and two of their corporate officers pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati to conspiring to provide hundreds of illegal aliens to work for a national air cargo firm in Wilmington, Ohio. The maximum penalty for the crime for each individual is ten years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. The companies face a maximum punishment of five years probation, and fines of $500,000 or twice the gain they received from the crime.  One individual defendant’s plea agreement also calls for him to forfeit $12,000,000 representing the proceeds of the crime and the property used to commit the crime.

In October 2006, government officials announced (here) that two Pennsylvania law enforcement agencies that have received payments totaling more than $2,500,000 from the Department of Homeland Security, payments representing shares of a landmark $15 million global civil and criminal settlement arising out an investigation into the alleged hiring of illegal aliens by independent contractors who provided cleaning services to Wal-Mart stores. According to federal officials, the following agencies have received asset forfeiture equitable sharing payments as a result of their crucial roles in this joint five year investigation, which culminated in 2005:

Office of Attorney General, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania $2,254, 511.30

Honesdale Police Department, Honesdale, Pennsylvania $253,632.52

In the “war on drugs,” there have long been allegations of abuse of civil asset forefeitures, with an alleged emphasis on raising funds for strapped local governments.  Query whether we will see similar allegations as civil asset forefeiture is used in the enforcement of the immigration laws.

Given the hefty sums gained by the Pennsylvania Attorney General and the local Pennsylvania police department (Honesdale), we should expect state and local governments to be eager in the future to assist in immigration enforcement.

KJ