INS Finds Most Employers Abide by Alien-Hiring Rules

Federal immigration officials said Tuesday that a recent survey found that “an overwhelming majority” of employers in the Los Angeles area are complying fully with sanctions aimed at discouraging the hiring of illegal aliens.

But the survey, which comes as part of a nationwide assessment by the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the 10-month sanctions, conflicts with studies by other groups--including the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce--that have found significantly lower levels of compliance.

Under sanctions provisions adopted by Congress in November, 1986, as part of a sweeping new immigration law, employers face stiff fines and civil and criminal penalties for hiring illegal aliens.

73% Complying

Harold Ezell, INS Western regional commissioner, said at a press conference that during the survey, conducted in February and March, immigration agents found that 73% of the businesses they visited were complying with sanctions.

“This result makes it quite apparent that employers understand and are finding it easy to voluntarily comply with the law,” he said.

During the survey, immigration officials contacted 158 businesses in Los Angeles and four adjacent counties, visiting 63 of those firms. Five warning citations, which could eventually lead to fines, resulted from the visits. The firms were randomly selected by INS computers in Washington.

Similar surveys were conducted in San Francisco and San Diego and will be expanded to other cities on June 1, the day the agency plans to stop issuing warning citations to employers and instead press for fines.

INS Statements Get Support

Ernest Gustafson, the INS Los Angeles district director, said the survey results support earlier statements by agency officials that at least 75% of the nation’s businesses are complying with the law. “That’s a definite sign that the law’s being accepted out there among employers,” he said.

The depth of that acceptance was called into question, however, by separate studies issued earlier this year.

The Department of Labor, which monitors the same workplace hiring records the INS often checks, reported in January that responses from 9,000 employers nationwide showed one-third in “full compliance,” another one-third in partial compliance and a final third either ignoring the sanctions, unaware of them or actively in violation.

Similarly, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found last year that 57% of 2,000 employer respondents were complying in some degree. But follow-up interviews of employers who said they were following the law have showed that many were, in fact, not complying, according to the chamber’s labor relations specialist, Virginia Thomas.

“We found that when asked personally, they backed away from their position and it turned out they weren’t complying,” Thomas said Tuesday.

Offers Explanation

Gustafson offered one explanation for the varying compliance figures, saying that the earlier studies may have given excess weight to agricultural businesses that have not yet been affected by sanctions. Sanctions on agricultural workers do not start until December.

Gustafson said the Los Angeles INS office issued 66 warning citations and three notices of intent to fine between last June 1 and April 15. Throughout the Western Region, which includes California, Hawaii, Arizona and Nevada, 659 citations were issued and 37 fines totaling $110,850 were levied.

Immigration officials also announced their intent Tuesday to fine a Compton furniture manufacturer up to $6,000 for sanction violations. Ezell said the Cal-Style Corp., a firm employing more than 150 workers, faces 17 separate counts, including hiring immigrants after they were notified that the employees were working illegally.

A Cal-Style personnel official who declined to identify himself said, “I think they made a mistake,” but declined to elaborate.

Five Indicted

At another press conference, Ezell and U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner announced federal grand jury indictments against five Southern California residents charged with smuggling and harboring aliens.

Four Santa Ana residents were indicted on charges of transporting as many as 100 aliens per week from Mexico to Santa Ana. Those indicted were Rafael Avila-Barajas, 39, and his wife, Arcelia Lopez de Avila, 42; Joaquin Galan-Gama, 19, and Roberto Zuniga-Zarco, 30. They are scheduled for arraignment on May 2 in Santa Ana.

A second indictment charged Guadencio Zamitiz-Lopez, 21, with harboring 51 aliens at the Guadalajara Natural Fruit Bar Co. warehouse in Los Angeles. Ezell said that the aliens were guaranteed a job at the fruit bar company upon their arrival in Los Angeles.