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USCIS REACHES H-2B CAP FOR SECOND
HALF OF FISCAL YEAR 2008
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey Announces Higher Civil Fines Against Employers for Immigration Violations U.S. Department of Justice WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 -- Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey today announced higher civil fines against employers who violate federal immigration laws. The announcement was made in a joint briefing today with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff about newly enacted border security reforms put in place by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Under the new rule, which was approved by Attorney General Mukasey and Secretary Chertoff, civil fines will increase by as much as $5,000. The new rule will take effect on March 27, 2008, and will be published in the Federal Register early next week. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, employers who violate employment eligibility requirements are subject to civil monetary penalties. Employers may be fined under the Act for knowingly employing unauthorized aliens or for other violations, including failure to comply with the requirements relating to employment eligibility verification forms, wrongful discrimination against job applicants or employees on the basis of nationality or citizenship, and immigration-related document fraud. For each of these violations, the employer has the right to a hearing before an administrative law judge in the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Under the new rule and applicable law, civil penalties for violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act are adjusted for inflation. Because these penalties were last adjusted in 1999, the average adjustment is approximately 25 percent. Under the specific rounding mechanism of the law, the minimum penalty for knowing employment of an unauthorized alien increases by $100, from $275 to $375. Some of the higher civil penalties are increased by $1,000; for example, the maximum penalty for a first violation increases from $2,200 to $3,200. The biggest increase under the rounding mechanism raises the maximum civil penalty for multiple violations from the current $11,000 to $16,000. These penalties are assessed on a per-alien basis; thus, if an employer knowingly employed, or continued to employ, five unauthorized aliens, that could result in five fines. Today's announcement follows a series of reforms, announced by the Administration in August 2007, to be made within the boundaries of existing law to secure our borders, improve interior and worksite enforcement, and improve the current immigration system. In addition to the higher civil penalties, measures announced and discussed at today's briefing included expanded prosecutions and removals of criminal aliens, a streamlining of existing guest worker programs, and the Southwest Border Enforcement Initiative. The Southwest Border Enforcement Initiative includes a $100 million
request in new Justice Department funding for FY 2009 for new hiring
and resources to better enable the United States to combat the flow
of illegal immigration, drugs, and weapons across the Southwest
Border, and to arrest, detain, prosecute, and incarcerate violent
criminals, drug offenders, and immigration violators along the Southwest
Border. More information on this funding request can be found at FRAUD ALERT - Identity Scam Targets Texas Landscape Firms A "financial information release form" is provided and
the company is told they must fax the form in to qualify for contracts.
This letter is not from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Secret Service recommends extreme caution in all financial
disclose areas and recommends the following business practices: TNLA will keep you informed about this issue as information becomes available. Thanks to TNLA members who took swift action to share this information. On March 26, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released
the new version of the Social Security A federal court in California
issued a temporary restraining order on this measure, which halted
its implementation. Department of Homeland Security is still in
the process of challenging the California Court ruling, and DHS
also conducted studies on how the proposed rule would affect small
business. By doing this study, DHS will have met the threshold the
California judge required when issuing the temporary restraining
order. This action will probably allow the DHS proposal to proceed
on To take action:
Sample Letter
pdf TNLA Publications These entities are representing themselves as “the official publications of TNLA, formerly TAN-MISSLARK” or similar language. These are fraudulent claims - do not respond! TNLA Green Magazine the TNLA Membership Directory and the Expo Program are the only print publications related to TNLA. Please check with TNLA before signing any document claiming to be related to the Nursery/Landscape Expo or any TNLA publication. The Horticultural Research Institute
(HRI) and its Endowment Fund, the research division of
the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA) announced
that it is now accepting research applications for its FY2009 competitive
research grants program. HRI strives to fund research that benefits
green industry related issues. HRI-supported projects focus on significant
problems, regulatory issues or emerging opportunities in the nursery
and landscape industry, encourage environmentally responsible management
practices, increase nursery crop producers' business or financial
expertise or improve and expand the market for plant material. HRI
seeks to support research that has definable outcomes and represents
a return on investment for the green industry. The Comptroller’s office recognizes the complexity of the revised franchise tax and the newness of the enhanced electronic reporting methods have caused concern among tax practitioners and taxpayers statewide. The extended deadline allows businesses to avoid a 5 percent penalty they would have faced had they not filed by May 15. “We want to make sure businesses and tax practitioners have
adequate time to make sure they’re complying with the revised
franchise tax,” Combs said. “Because they’re dealing
with new calculations and enhanced technology for filing reports,
the one month penalty waiver will help taxpayers accurately complete
their returns in the first year of this brand new tax.” Irrigation Rules - In response to House Bill (HB) 3, HB 1656, and Senate Bill 3, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) proposed changes to the Landscape Irrigation (Chapter 344) and Licensing (Chapter 30) rules. Public hearings on the proposed rule changes were held on February 26, 2008. The TCEQ staff proposal will be published on at: http://www.tceq.state.tx.us/comm_exec/agendas/comm/comm_agendas.html after the documents are filed on May 16, 2008. The staff proposal will be considered at the June 4, 2008 commission agenda. The Chapter 30 rulemaking will be effective on June 26, 2008. The Chapter 344 rules will be effective on January 1, 2009.
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