Firm Hit With Record INS Fine Over Hiring 85 Illegal Aliens

The Immigration and Naturalization Service on Wednesday levied a record $580,000 fine and announced criminal indictments against owners of a South Carolina textile firm that allegedly flouted federal verification procedures in hiring 85 illegal aliens from Mexico and Peru, including a 12-year-old boy.

The action against Piedmont Quilting Corp. of Walhalla, S.C., involved the heaviest fine to be imposed so far under 1986 immigration reform legislation that made employers responsible for checking on the status of their workers.

Plant owner Alfred Mizhir, 55, his wife Gail, 30, and nine other officers were indicted on criminal charges under the act for allegedly disregarding its verification provisions. Officials said the indictments were based on evidence that additional illegal aliens had been hired besides those discovered during an INS raid last July 17.

Company officers declined comment. INS officials said the firm has 30 days to contest the fine at an administrative hearing.

The largest previous fine to be levied under the act was a $308,000 penalty imposed last year against Ready-Men Inc., a Chicago firm providing temporary laborers.

Gene McNary, the new commissioner of the INS, said the latest fine “should be a clear sign to those who have doubts that the INS is strongly committed to enforcing the employer sanctions. . . . It is my intention to maintain a vigorous and firm enforcement activity.”

INS spokesman Vern Jervis said the heavy fine resulted from the company’s displaying “a devil-may-care attitude toward complying with the law. They made no attempt at verification.”

In all, Piedmont was accused of failing to verify the employment status of more than 400 employees.

Under the 1986 reform act, an employer is required to make a careful check of a prospective employee’s immigration documents to make certain he or she is not in the United States illegally. The firm also must keep on file a statement of each employee’s birth record or immigration status completed partly by the worker and partly by the company.

Thomas P. Fischer, chief of the immigration office in Atlanta, said working conditions for three Mexican boys hired by Piedmont “almost bordered on bondage.” The workplace was unsafe for such children, who were “not mature enough to understand the danger” posed by large machinery and 150-pound bales of fabric used to make pillows, quilts and comforters, he said.

All the illegal aliens, most of whom were living in trailer parks or cramped apartment complexes, were deported, Fischer said.

“There was no documentation for them. They were being paid in cash,” he told reporters.