Biased Hiring Practices Told by Employers : Over 500,000 Admit Violating Provisions of Immigration Act

More than 500,000 employers nationwide reported that they have engaged in discriminatory practices since 1986 immigration reform outlawed the hiring of illegal aliens, according to a congressional report released today.

The 101-page General Accounting Office study found that about one in six employers who said they were aware of the law’s sanctions nevertheless described engaging in practices prohibited under the landmark Immigration Reform and Control Act.

“On the basis of GAO’s employer survey, of the 3.3 million who were aware of the law, about 528,000 (or 16%) had begun or increased the practice of asking only foreign-looking persons for work authorization documents or hiring only U.S. citizens,” the GAO’s executive summary said.

Of those acknowledging that they asked only foreign-looking job applicants for work authorizations, most were from Florida, followed by New York and California. California employers, more often than others, reported starting new policies to hire U.S. citizens only and asking only current workers who looked foreign for work authorization documents.

53,000 in California

The GAO said, for example, that it estimates that in California about 53,000 employers started to ask “only foreign-looking or -sounding job applicants to present work authorization documents.”

But the report adds that the survey responses “did not adequately address the number of authorized workers who were fired, not hired, or otherwise affected by the reported practices.

“Thus, the survey responses should not be construed to mean that the law has caused a pattern of discrimination. Nevertheless, policy-makers should be concerned about the reported practices, and federal agencies should provide the public more information about the act.”

Sources said those findings are cause for serious concern because California has the nation’s largest Latino population and also the largest population of legal resident aliens and illegal immigrants.

The report could lead to calls for review of the sanctions, which impose penalties on employers who knowingly hired illegal immigrants after Nov. 6, 1986. Employers are subject to fines ranging from $250 per alien on the first violation to $10,000 on the third offense. Repeat offenders could be jailed.

Congress can repeal sanctions if the GAO determines after next year’s annual review that there is a widespread pattern of discrimination directly resulting from the penalties.

A Senate source said the report’s findings are a “definite cause for concern.”