Countywide

A sharp increase in the number of illegal aliens arrested last month in San Diego County will prompt immediate sanctions against employers who hire the undocumented, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials said Monday.

“The INS wants all aliens and employers to know that we do intend to implement the employer sanction section of the immigration reform bill effective immediately,” said Michael Nicely, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol.

Under the Immigration Reform Act signed into law last November, employers can be fined up to $10,000 or jailed for up to six months for hiring illegal aliens.

Howard Ezell, regional INS commissioner, said at a press conference Monday that 63,061 arrests were made in the San Diego sector in the month of July, a 7% increase from the 59,182 arrests made in the same month last year.

“Up until now we’ve been educating employers and aliens about the new law, but now we’re switching gears,” Nicely said. “We are turning toward the enforcement phase of the law.

“There was some doubt on some employers’ and some aliens’ minds whether we planned to enforce this law, because up until now we’ve been trying to educate them.”

“Some people interpreted that as non-enforcement,” he said.