Clinton Moves to Curb Illegal Immigration : Sanctions: He orders crackdown on employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers. U.S. may also seek to seize assets of such firms.

Underscoring the Administration’s new emphasis on employer sanctions to curb illegal immigration, President Clinton on Tuesday directed federal agencies to collaborate in cracking down on companies and industries that willfully hire undocumented workers.

Clinton, during a briefing at the White House, also hinted that he will seek authority to confiscate business assets of firms that employ illegal immigrants.

“If we turn off the employment stream for illegal workers, far, far fewer of them will risk the difficult journey here,” said Clinton in announcing his instructions to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Labor and other federal agencies.

Clinton also ordered the INS and Social Security Administration to implement pilot projects to test various techniques for improving workplace verification and to report back early next year on their progress.

The pilot projects would explore quick-response checks of Social Security cards and use of Social Security and INS databanks to verify workers’ status.

The work site verification experiments were the key--and most controversial--recommendation last year of a federal immigration task force, chaired by former Texas Rep. Barbara Jordan.

The White House released a letter from Jordan backing the Administration’s immigration game plan.

The Clinton directive builds on a White House budget that calls for a $1-billion increase in immigration-related funding next year. The spending plan includes new funds to stiffen enforcement at the country’s borders, streamline deportation procedures and expand financial assistance to affected states.

Over the past two days, the Administration has taken pains to spotlight its heightened attention on the employer side of the illegal immigrant equation. The 1986 immigration reform law included employer sanctions, but the initiative failed in the face of scant enforcement, a sea of fraudulent work documents and the absence of reliable verification systems.

Clinton on Tuesday directed the Department of Labor to focus its investigations on industries with patterns of labor law violations. Seven states--including California--that are severely affected by illegal immigration would be singled out for special attention.

Meeting with reporters after briefing Clinton were Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, INS Commissioner Doris Meissner, Border Patrol officials and Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich, who inveighed against unscrupulous employers fueling the demand for illegal workers.

“One reason that employers in the United States are willing to risk employer sanctions right now and hire illegal immigrants is because they can get those illegal immigrants at less than the minimum wage, put them in squalid working conditions, subject them to sub-minimal working conditions, and they know that those illegal immigrants are unlikely to complain,” Reich said.

“We’re on the side of companies that make money the old-fashioned way: They earn it. They obey the law. They treat their workers fairly.”

Reich said the garment industry is the most prone to using illegal workers, followed by agriculture, fast food restaurants and custodial and construction companies. About 15 industries would be targeted under the Clinton plan.

The Administration is seeking 365 new INS investigators and 202 new Department of Labor personnel to examine hiring practices in the selected regions and industries. If the Administration plan is approved by Congress, 38 additional Labor Department investigators would be sent to California, which had 65 at the end of 1994. Most of those new personnel would be located in Southern California, a Labor Department spokesman said.

Under the plan, the Administration foresees a 60% increase in INS work-site apprehensions and a two-thirds increase in Labor Department investigations.

But some experts predict that the additional resources will not make a dent in the problem.

“Does the Administration have the money and manpower to materially increase enforcement efforts?” asked Wayne Schrader, a Washington attorney who represents employers. “I think the answer is they do not. To use hyperbole, unless they want to amend the law and impose the death penalty for work-site violations, the (employers who willfully hire illegal immigrants) won’t be alarmed if five more inspectors are assigned to Los Angeles County,” Schrader said.

A spokesman for Gov. Pete Wilson, the Administration’s most persistent scold on illegal immigration, decried Clinton’s approach as wrongheaded. “The (Administration’s) emphasis refuses to acknowledge that government services are a magnet, and relies on employer vilification,” said Leslie Goodman, Wilson’s immigration expert. “The Clinton plan marginalizes everything, is underwhelming . . . and will leave California voters flat.”

But Clinton, in his directive, provided hints about some of the elements.

The President said he may combat unscrupulous employers by seeking federal authority “to confiscate assets that are the fruits of that unfair competition.”

The Administration will also seek wiretap authority to investigate immigrant smuggling rings and seize assets of “groups . . . trafficking in human cargo.”