$3,000 Fine in Alien Hiring Case Is Upheld

In the first such decision nationwide, a federal administrative law judge has upheld fines totaling $3,000 against an El Cajon manufacturer for violating the 1986 immigration law, which makes it a crime to hire illegal aliens.

However, while administrative law Judge Marvin H. Morse upheld six counts against the company, he dismissed 11 others in the complaint filed last October by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The long-awaited decision, which deals specifically with the case here, was immediately seen as bolstering the procedures used by U.S. authorities to enforce the so-called “employer-sanction” provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

Federal officials have long said such sanctions, including civil and criminal penalties against employers who hire illegal aliens, are the cornerstone of the new law and the only way to curb the entry of undocumented immigrants into the United States. Some employers have objected to the INS enforcement procedures, charging that the regulations were vague and that official instruction, notice and warnings have been insufficient.

But Morse, in a 46-page decision handed down Friday but made public Tuesday, found that the employer, Mester Manufacturing Co. of El Cajon, had continued to hire six illegal aliens despite being adequately warned by INS inspectors that the firm was in potential violation of the new law. The firm was fined $500 per employee.

Officials Cheered

Barry Mester, president and founder of the company, showed “disdain” for the law’s requirements, Morse ruled.

The original fine imposed on the firm was $6,000. The judge dismissed 10 record-keeping counts because of technical defects in the charges, and dismissed one other illegal-hiring count because of confusion about the worker’s identity.

Despite the fact that the judge cut the fine in half, U.S. officials responded positively to the findings.

“This is terrific,” said William Odencrantz, the immigration service’s regional counsel in Los Angeles. “I presume it is going to be trend-setting nationwide.”

Peter N. Larrabee, attorney for Mester Manufacturing, agreed that the case could have wide ramifications--negative ones, by his reckoning.

“We believe that this ruling could be absolutely devastating to employers across the nation; they’ll have no place to turn,” said Larrabee, an experienced immigration lawyer and long-time immigration service official.

Specifically, Larrabee pointed to the case of three Mester workers who presented the employer with so-called “green cards,” which presumably allowed them to work in the United States. Although immigration inspectors advised Mester Manufacturing that the green cards were not valid, Larrabee contended that the employer could not dismiss the workers without opening the firm to lawsuits for wrongful firing.

Appeal Being Considered

Such dilemmas are at the core of the evolving dispute about the employer-sanction legislation.

“The message to employers is that you cannot hope to win; you’re going to lose,” said Larrabee, who said that many other employers may be caught in the same quandary. “You’ll either get nailed on employer sanctions, or you’ll get nailed for wrongful termination or discrimination.”

An appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals is being considered, Larrabee said.

In his ruling, Morse stressed that his findings apply specifically to the facts in dispute regarding Mester Manufacturing and should not be read overly broadly. Rather, Morse said in a footnote, the ruling “should provide no signal as to the success or failure of employer sanctions as visualized by the framers of that statute or as implemented by those charged with its administration.”

Nationwide, the INS has fined about 100 employers a total of about $350,000 under the new law. Most of the fines have been against employers in the West, a quarter of them in San Diego County, the key entry point for illegal border crossers headed to Los Angeles and other U.S. job markets. Some defendants have settled the cases, whereas others are disputing the fines. All fined employers have the right to request hearings before administrative law judges.

The case of Mester Manufacturing, which makes water beds and other furniture, was the first nationwide to reach the hearing stage. It is also the first in which an administrative law judge has rendered a decision after a full hearing.

Mester was notified of the enforcement action Oct. 2, making it the first employer in California and the second in the nation to be fined under the new law. A 3 1/2-day hearing was held on the Mester case in San Diego last February.