E-Verify is the Law. We make it Easier.

Case Study:

The Kawasaki Restaurant Investigation

So how does this new approach work differently than the previous enforcement
method employed by the INS? Take the Kawasaki restaurant chain in Baltimore
as an example…

ICE’s approach in practice:

In March of 2006, ICE executed search, arrest and seizure warrants
at three Kawasaki Restaurants - a small Japanese restaurant chain - and
at four related residences where we encountered fifteen undocumented workers.
The three business owners were criminally arrested for money laundering
and harboring of illegal aliens.

* ICE seized assets including eight luxury vehicles, ten bank accounts
and three safety deposit boxes and cash found during the residence and business
searches.

* The owners have since pleaded guilty to these felony charges and agreed
to forfeit approximately $1.1 million in assets.

The old approach:

How would this case have been handled differently prior to ICE’s new approach?

Historically, INS agents would have used administrative tools. They would
have likely conducted an I-9 inspection at the Kawasaki Restaurants to determine
whether the employer was in compliance with IRCA. Following the inspection,
the issuance of a fine based on paperwork violations would have likely been
the end result.

* The owners would likely escape even a misdemeanor charge.

* The maximum fine would have been approximately $20,000, -- and in many
cases, such a fine would be negotiated down even further, often down to
half of the original penalty.

Under the old way of doing business:

With such a paltry end result, it is not surprising that the old employer
sanction regime had become simply a “cost of doing business”.