New Fines for Immigration Related Violations
The U.S. Department of Justice has published a new rule that will increase penalties for the illegal employment of immigrants and for unfair employment practices tied to immigration. The new rule is a result of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which was enacted last fall.
Under the new rule, the minimum penalty for unlawful employment of immigrants will increase from $375 to $539, and the maximum penalty will increase from $3,200 to $4,313. For those with multiple orders, the new maximum penalty for unlawfully employing immigrants will be $21,563.
The new regulation will also raise penalties for paperwork violation related to immigration law. The new penalty will increase from $1,100 to $2, 156. For unfair immigration related practices, a first order will now have a maximum penalty of $3, 563 per person discriminated against. Previously, it was $3,200.
The regulation takes effect on August 1, 2016 and the increases will apply to violations that took place after November 2, 2015.
A complete chart outlining the new penalty amounts can be found here.
New York Couple Pay 1 Million Dollars After Conviction in Immigration Scam
In June, Loreto and Hazel Kudera, a married couple from New York, pleaded guilty to charges that they conspired to commit immigration fraud. The couple admitted that they provided false and fraudulent information to USCIS when applying for H1-B visas for foreign nurses.
Hazel Kudera owns several medical staffing agencies, which provide nurses to hospitals, outpatient, and skilled nursing facilities. Her husband Loreto Kudera worked as a lawyer prior to the convictions.
The H1-B visa program allows an employer to petition on behalf of a foreign national to enter the U.S. for the specific purpose of working for the employer in a specialty occupation. There are a limited number of H-1B visas available each year, and the purpose of the program is to ensure that these visas go to legitimate beneficiaries to fill specialty positions. Registered Nurse (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) are not considered to be specialty occupations by USCIS.
Loreto and Hazel Kudera were fully aware of this. Yet they falsely stated that the foreign nurses they were petitioning for would be working in specialty occupations at prevailing wage rates. In truth, these nurses were going to work as RNs or LPNs at much lower rates. The Kuderas admitted that they submitted at least 100 fraudulent petitions as part of their scheme. They profited immensely. Upon their convictions, the Kuderas agreed to forfeit $1,000,000 in illegally gained proceeds to the U.S. They paid the final installment on June 30th.
The Kuderas will be sentenced on September 28,2016. The maximum penalties for their crimes are five years in prison, three years of supervised release, or a fine of $250,000 or twice the amount of gross gain, whichever is greater.
Measles Outbreak in Arizona Detention Center
A measles outbreak that began in late May at a detention center in Eloy, Arizona, has grown to 22 cases, and is currently the largest outbreak of measles in the country. The cases include nine employees of the facility, which is overseen by US Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) and operated by a private prison company.
The facility holds about 1,250 immigrants who are awaiting court proceedings or deportation. Many are migrants who fled violence in Central America.
Officials have not been able to confirm whether the outbreak began with a detainee or with an agency employee. But the Arizona Department of Health Services said that all of the immigrants at the center were vaccinated within the first few days of the initial outbreak. When the outbreak was not contained and spread to staff members, health officials asked the prison company and the federal officials to show proof that their employees were vaccinated.
While the prison company quickly moved to comply with the demands, some of the ICE employees did not come forward with proof of vaccinations. ICE has said that they cannot legally require them to do so. The agency employs about 100 people at the detention center.
But the Arizona Department of Health Services does have the legal authority to request employees’ vaccination records. They are particularly perplexed because doctors from the Department had offered free vaccines at the detention center and they held information sessions for employees.
No one has died yet from the outbreak but the disease is still not contained. One person who was infected was an immigrant who was recently released from the facility. Some are concerned that this could pose a danger to the local community. The last case to be confirmed was on July 2.
For years Arizona has struggled with the flow of migrants illegally crossing the border. Some residents have warned that migrants could import diseases to the U.S. But health officials have said that the issue isn’t the flow of migrants. The problem is the declining vaccination rate in Arizona.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/us/measles-immigration-detention-center-arizona.html?_r=0
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