What is the range of fines and penalties for hiring un-documented
foreigners?
About 10 years ago a person I know was in jail 2 days until his wife
came and paid, $1,000 I think. He was just carrying in his car an
un-documented person from the southern Texas border to his restaurant.

John P.

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 25 Dec 2002 19:56 PST

Does your question relate specifically to penalties as prescribed by
the state of Texas?

tutuzdad-ga

Hello again pendleton-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.

The problem here is actually quite complex depending on the nature of
each individual case. Many fines and/or jail sentences with regard to
illegal aliens are levied on a case-by-case basis and it would be
difficult to say precisely what would occur in a hypothetical
situation. Here are some sentencing guidelines provided by Federal law
(subject, of course, to some alteration according to the magnitude of
the specific offense):

The penalties imposed by INS for hiring an illegal alien can be from
$250 to a maximum of $2,000 for each illegal alien employed, in
addition to another $100 to $1,000 for each failure to complete and
maintain an I-9 form. Non-payment of federal withholding taxes and
state taxes opens up the possibility of other penalties from the IRS
and state authorities.

In addition, there is this Federal statute, “Employers who aid or abet
the preparation of false tax returns by failing to pay income or
social security taxes for illegal alien employees, or who knowingly
make payments using false names or social security numbers, are
subject to IRS criminal and civil sanctions.” (26 USCS 7206).

“Any vehicle used to transport or harbor illegal aliens, or as a
substantial part of an activity that encourages illegal aliens to come
to or reside in the U.S. may be seized by an immigration officer and
is subject to forfeiture. The forfeiture power covers any conveyances
used within the U.S.” (INA 274(a), (b)(1).)

Of course, if one were to be arrested for any of the above violations,
he might expect to be jailed until he made bond set by the court or
remain jailed until tried and/or convicted. The financial penalties
above are not inclusive of any time spent in jail, though this would
be an option of the court to be prescribed at their discretion given
the nature of each specific case and as each case warrants. As you can
see, it's not always cut and dried. Such a violation could lead to a
virtual pandora's box of seemingly endless legal and financial
miseries.

Below you will find that I have carefully defined my search strategy
for you in the event that you need to search for more information. By
following the same type of searches that I did you may be able to
enhance the research I have provided even further. I hope you find
that that my research exceeds your expectations. If you have any
questions about my research please post a clarification request prior
to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating and your final
comments and I look forward to working with you again in the near
future. Thank you for using Google Answers.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga


INFORMATION SOURCES


CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES
http://www.cis.org/articles/1993/back393.html


ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS A CRIME
http://www.americanpatrol.com/FAIR/hireillegalsacrimeFAIR.html


FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM
“The Law against Hiring or Harboring Illegal Aliens”
http://www.fairus.org/html/04176912.htm


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Texas penalties employing illegal alien

Texas "1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act"

Excellent answer. I realize that there are many variants of cases. I
just needed some idea of what fines could be and some Internet
references.

You and the other 499 researchers and soooooo helpful. Thanks so
much!!