The Department of Justice sued an American business for doing the unthinkable: Ensuring that their employees are legally permitted to work in the United States. As the Daily Caller reports:
A Florida pizzeria agreed to pay a hefty court sum for asking immigrants to provide a specific document proving their legal status, in a settlement with the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
Pizzerias LLC will pay the government $140,000 to resolve the dispute over the way the chain tried to verify whether potential hires have legal residence in the United States. The Justice Department was investigating whether the chain violated a federal law prohibiting employers from making unnecessary demands for documents from people based on citizenship.
The franchise, with more than 30 locations in Miami, was accused of routinely asking lawful permanent residents for a Permanent Resident Card to prove their work authorization, although they often have access to the same documents a U.S. citizen would provide to prove work authorization. Federal investigators found the demand for a Permanent Resident Card possibly constituted an illegal hurdle for the immigrants, in violation of an anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The Justice Department concluded there is “reasonable cause to believe that [Pizzerias] engaged in a pattern or practice of unfair documentary practices,” the settlement agreement states.
This is what happens when political preferences taint the law. Last year same Justice Department that sued Pizzerias for discriminating against immigrants INCREASED the penalties for companies caught employing illegal immigrants. As Fox News reported at the time:
Under the interim final rule published Thursday in the Federal Register, the minimum penalty imposed by the DOJ for the unlawful employment of immigrants would rise from $375 to $539, while the maximum fine would go from $3,200 to $4,313.
The changes stemmed from amendments in a 2015 budget bill that overhauled the formula for increasing such civil penalties.
Violators facing multiple charges also would be subject to a new maximum penalty of $21,563 for hiring illegal immigrants.
So here’s what it appears happened. Pizzerias, in an effort to comply with the law and avoid a maximum fine of 21,000 dollars, did everything in their power to comply with the law. But because complying with the law is considered “racist,” they’ll now have to pay a fine nearly seven times larger.
Is it any wonder why companies don’t comply with our immigration laws?
