David North is a CIS Fellow. The author is grateful to Sarah Wilhelm, then a CIS intern, for her assistance in annotating this list.
The Department of Labor can bar companies from participating in foreign-worker programs due to misconduct. While the total number of such debarments is small, many of the individual cases are fascinating and grim stories of corporate greed and worker abuse. A state-by-state listing of violators is attached at the end of this report. It should be a tempting menu for investigative reporters seeking good stories and/or for graduate students looking for research topics.
While there are large numbers of employers participating in the various foreign-worker programs run by the U.S. Department of Labor, all starting with the visa letter H, DoL rarely finds one of them violating the rules seriously enough to even temporarily suspend their participation. We have, using various federal sources, compiled an annotated list of the misbehaving companies that have been debarred by DoL: in many cases the nature of the abuse is both fascinating and depressing.
If you told someone that there was a population so pure and law-abiding that only about one in a 1,000 members of it was in trouble, no one would take you seriously. Surely out of any sample of 1,000 soldiers, or college graduates, or priests, or politicians, or factory workers, or what have you, there would be more than a single person who had misbehaved.
As a matter of fact, for every 1,000 American males over the age of 18, about six of them are in prison.1
But the U.S. Labor Department (DoL) operates in a different and apparently better world — only about one out of every 1,000 users of its foreign labor programs is in trouble for abusing those systems. Maybe the users of foreign workers are paragons, or more likely the department is not very rigorous when it comes to enforcing its own rules and the laws laid down by Congress.
Meanwhile, as many others have noted, these programs are deeply controversial and are widely regarded as operations that cut wages for, and deny jobs to, resident workers. For more on these critiques, see the writings of Martin, Matloff, and Seminara on the H-2A, H-1B, and H-2B programs, respectively.2
Bear in mind, as we discuss these departmental punishments for the abuse of these programs, that merely depressing wages in the U.S. labor market, or participating in schemes that shove aside American workers, is not considered an abuse. One must do something additional, such as not keeping promises about pay rates, misleading foreign workers during the recruitment process, engaging in fraud, or receiving kickbacks from the alien workers, to be penalized. One ultra-creative crook took aliens illegally in this country, sent them home, and brought them back as apparently legal nonimmigrant workers — all for a substantial set of fees.
The department’s punishments for the infractions it sees are pretty mild; in the worst-case scenarios the employers are debarred from the program; they are told that they cannot have any more foreign workers for from one to three years. (There are other kinds of debarments, for instance, from government contracts, but this paper deals primarily with the Labor Department’s penalties regarding its own temporary worker programs and the permanent labor certification system.)
These are all civil penalties. A few violate the law so thoroughly that they actually spend some time in jail, but you can use the fingers on one hand to count the number of foreign-worker employers who become prisoners, nationwide, per year.
The U.S. Labor Department imposes penalties (sparingly) in three foreign-worker programs. Two of these are for temporary workers: H-1B for high tech workers, and H-2A for farm workers; the third is the permanent one for admitting resident aliens as needed workers. Other federal agencies (State, DHS, and sometimes Justice) play roles in these programs, but Labor hands out the employer penalties. (I could not find a penalized-employer list for another of DoL’s foreign worker programs, that for H-2Bs, who are low-skilled, non-agricultural workers, but there is an excellent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on some of that program’s errant employers.3)
In the H-2A and the permanent program, the penalty is simply debarment; a time period is decreed by the department and in that period the designated employer cannot have any more foreign workers. The H-2A program usually involves a relatively small set of employers, each bringing in large numbers of workers at the same time, to work on, for example, tobacco or vegetable crops. The permanent workers, who get labor certifications, are individual cases.
The other temporary worker program of interest, that of the H-1Bs, is used by both large and small operators, and the workers who are admitted are kept for years at a time. It also has a more complex penalty system. An employer designated as a willful violator is barred from the program for one to three years and can use no foreign workers in this time span. (Presumably the greater the violation, the longer the debarment.) After the debarment a lesser punishment takes place, the abusing H-1B employer has more restricted access to nonimmigrant workers, and this condition persists through a period of five years from the date of the initial debarment.
What is described above are the willful violators of the H-1B program. There are also non-willful violators, who go through a year or two of debarment, but the second kind of penalty, the restricted access to H-1B workers, does not apply to them.
Returning to the idea that only a tiny, tiny fraction of employers are penalized for misusing the program, let’s look at some numbers.
During FY 2009 there were 58,956 employers who filed petitions in the H-1B program, according to a recent GAO report.4 In addition there were tens of thousands of other H-1B employers who had previously filed petitions that were still valid in that year as an H-1B visa is usually good for three years. Let’s ignore the others and simply use 58,956 as a rough (and understated) proxy for the size of the H-1B employer population.
In contrast, there are 60 H-1B employers (two of which appear on the department’s debarred list twice) who had been penalized by the Department over the last five years.
The ratio is 1 to 983.
Similarly, in FY 2009 there were 7,665 approved applications5 for H-2A farmworkers, and the Department of Labor’s list of debarred participants consists of six names. Again, that is a multi-year list.
That ratio is 1 to 1,278.6
The H-2B program has about as many approved applications as the H-2A program, and perhaps a roughly comparable number of employers. There were 5,998 certified applications in FY 2009.7 The GAO report and ICE press releases have identified 12 violators.
That ratio is 1 to 500.
If you add up the three approximations for employers in the temporary programs (72,619) and the total number of identified program abusers (78) the grand ratio is 1 to 931, over a multi-year span of time.
In FY 2009, some 58,000 workers were admitted in the first, second, and third preferences for employment-based permanent immigrants.8 There does not seem to be a count of their employers, but since many of them file for only a single worker, there must be well over 10,000 of them.
In contrast, the department’s multi-year debarred list for these permanent employers has only four names on it.
If one were to use the 10,000 guestimate above, the ratio would be 1 to 2,500.
For some data on specific government-identified misbehaving employers in foreign worker programs, by name and location, see the list that follows and the accompanying notes.
DHS Also Engaged in Fraud Detection
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is also engaged in the investigation of fraud in foreign-worker programs, but it handles its reporting in such a way that the kind of mathematical analysis, spelled out above for the Department of Labor, cannot be duplicated.
DHS does three things in connection with naming companies that it finds have violated some part of the immigration law.
First, like Labor, it issues press releases about particularly egregious situations; these releases are usually about cases involving multiple violations, substantial sums of money, and criminal indictments. For example, two years ago in Iowa DHS broke up a massive conspiracy and issued a release headlined: “11 arrested, indicted in multi-state visa fraud operation.”9
It was a 10-count federal indictment, with a claim against the perpetrators for a $7.4 million forfeiture, and recounting violations in Iowa and several other states. In this case the press release indicated that H-1B violations (among others) were involved and it identified the indicted company as “Vision Systems Group, Inc., a New Jersey Domestic Profit Corporation with a branch office in Coon Rapids, Iowa.”
Second, DHS adds names of companies breaking the immigration law, in various ways, to the overall government list of people and firms debarred from federal contracts on the huge government-wide “Excluded Parties List System.”10 ICE added 249 firms and individuals to that catch-all compilation, with most of them earning the distinction outside the H-1B program; most of them had been found hiring illegal aliens.
Third, from time to time, DHS picks up the DoL debarred lists and distributes them with its own imprimatur.11
Notes on the Penalized Employers’ List
The list that follows consists of users of foreign-worker programs that have been penalized by the United States and have been identified individually in one or more of eight public documents. The author has merged the listings to organize it geographically. The sources of the lists are as follows:
H-1B. On the Labor Department’s website, right now, there are two overlapping lists of currently or recently debarred H-1B employers;12 once the duplications have been eliminated, there are 62 listings, or 60 employers, since two of them apparently had two violations each. (These lists are updated frequently and the current ones may have changed slightly since the CIS research was completed.)
The recently released GAO report on this program indicated that nine of the 150 largest users of the H-1B program were listed as willful violators.13 Unfortunately, the names of the nine firms were not published, nor was the time period in which the 150 were identified. (This report is not to be confused with a different GAO report on H-2B workers described below.)
H-2A. The original list of six names is available at the DoL’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification website.14
H-2B. While we have not been able to locate a list of employers penalized by DoL in this program, there is a recent and highly useful GAO report on H-2B employers who have been involved in program-related civil and criminal proceedings in the federal courts.15 Ten case histories are printed in this report, but, unfortunately, the names of the employers are not shown. Since these employers, by definition, have or have had approved H-2B petitions, are listed by GAO by state (or multi-state locations in some instances), and are in the court records, investigators probably can identify them. We have made suggested identifications in all but two instances.
Three additional cases, one involving a Florida couple named Barbugli (H-2B), one located largely in Iowa (H-1A), and one on Guam with 124 indictments (H-2B), were identified in press releases from the Department of Homeland Security.
The GAO report on the H-2B program is particularly helpful because it cites not only horror stories about the abuse of program participants, but also points out that many of the employers, despite their court records, continued to secure H-2B workers from the government, as well as, in some cases, ongoing flows of government funds.
Permanent Certifications. That list, of four names, is also hosted by DoL’s Office of Foreign Labor Certification.16
In the list below, each of the penalized employers is identified by the immigration program involved, and the specific government citation is shown. In cases where we found other evidence, such as press releases or court records, that is noted as well. The latter references are to the Federal Courts’ electronic records system, PACER. In many cases there are other PACER files for the firms listed but unless the court action seemed pertinent to the debarring, they are not noted in the following list.
In some instances, names of individual employers or owners have been printed in the public records, and are shown here as well; in a few instances we encountered evidence of bankruptcy filings, and have so noted them.
Readers with questions about items on the list may contact the author at [email protected].
Employers of Foreign Workers Penalized by the Federal Government
(Compiled from federal documents by the Center for Immigration Studies, January 2011)
Arizona |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Scottsdale | Sabir Systems, Inc. (computer and computer software store) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 4/7/06; no longer debarred. |
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Arkansas |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Russellville | Name not identified by GAO, but probably Superior Forestry Service, Inc. (forestry company) | H-2B. According to the GAO report: Many violations, including: “During litigation, the company was held in contempt of court three times for intimidating workers...”
Settled for $2.75 million in back wages; despite violations firm continued to receive more H-2B workers and more federal contracts, see page 7. Also see Court records on PACER |
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California |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
City of Industry | API Accounting & Computer Consulting (software) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 2/25/08; no longer debarred. |
Diamond Bar | Synergy Systems, Inc. (information technology/ engineering; also has a location in Freemont, Calif.) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 7/31/06; no longer debarred. |
Fountain Valley | Assured Horizons, LLC (now in bankruptcy, assisted living/nursing homes for the elderly) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 5/21/07; no longer debarred. |
La Habra | MQ Solutions LLC (computers and computer equipment and software) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL 10/31/10 to 10/30/12, but not a willful violator |
Los Angeles | Asian Journal (foreign-language Newspaper for Filipinos, the publication also has operations in San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York City, and the Philippines) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL, on 8/2/10 for not properly paying workers and “misrepresenting the facts of the employment situation” to workers. |
Los Angeles | Global Horizons Manpower, Inc. (farm labor contractor) | H-2A. Debarred for three years, ending 6/30/09. Accused of human trafficking. Court Records on PACER. |
Los Angeles | Morex Enterprises (fabric importer, exporter and wholesaler) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 1/6/08; no longer debarred. |
Los Angeles | S J B Enterprises (auto loans) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 1/1/10 to 12/31/11 A website identifies this as an auto loan firm with three employees. |
Los Angeles | SUNSPCS Management, a subsidiary of International Microcell Communications, Inc., and David Safai individually and as President (telecommunications/ information technology) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 4/10/08; no longer debarred. |
Riverside | Magnolia Pool Supply (swimming pools) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 12/25/08; no longer debarred. |
San Francisco | Complete Systems Solutions, Inc. (engineering/ information technology) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 6/1/09 to 5/31/11. |
San Francisco | LawLogix (technology and data security/Immigration application processing software; also has office in Phoenix, Ariz.) | Permanent Labor Certification; program leads to green card status for worker. One of four entities debarred from the permanent labor certification program by DoL. The firm was debarred for three years, ending 5/14/11. |
San Francisco | Professional Technology Staffing, Inc. (DBA PITI, probably software staffing) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 6/1/09 to 5/31/11. |
San Jose | Rose Garden Court (retirement homes/elderly care) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 4/6/06; no longer debarred. |
San Jose | South Seminole Sheet Metal, Inc. (sheet metal) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 6/2/06; no longer debarred. |
Santa Clara | Win Vision, Inc. (Internet technology, computer programing) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 9/30/10 to 9/29/12. |
Santa Fe Springs | 4MY2C, Inc (DBA Goldilocks Corp., baking) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL 6/1/09 to 5/31/11 as a willful violator. |
Thousand Oaks | Cottages of the Oaks, LLC (assisted living/elderly care) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 2/16/07; no longer debarred. |
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Colo., Conn., Del., Ind., Md., Mass., Min., Mo., N.J., N.Y., Ohio, Penn., Texas, Va., and Wash. |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Landscaping company; name of firm known to GAO and federal courts, but not published; probably can be found with research | H-2B. According to the GAO Report: “The company paid a $600,000 settlement to workers in 2008, the largest amount at that time .... Since 2008, the firm has been awarded over $35,000 in federal contracts, and has applied for certifications for over 8,000 employees.” See p. 10. |
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Connecticut |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Groton | Gurukrupa LLC; Bestway Inn and Suites (hotel/motel) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 8/5/07; no longer debarred. |
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Delaware |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Newark | Cyberworld Enterprise Technologies, Inc (DBA Tekstrom, Inc., computer software development and consulting) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL, but not a willful violator, 7/31/10 to 7/30/11. Also listed under Tekstrom in same file. |
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Florida |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Boca Raton | Skillsoft International Inc. (AKA Skillsoft, Inc., website design service) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 4/30/06; no longer debarred. |
Destin | Name of firm not identified by GAO but probably Eurohouse Holding Corp. and Woland Inc. (hospitality labor broker) | H-2B. According to the GAO report: “the court referred to the treatment of these workers as ‘legal slavery’. All four executive officers received federal prison sentences and joint $1 million asset forfeiture.” Court Records on PACER |
Jacksonville | K-Soft Information Technologies (software) | H-1B. Debarred 7/31/10 to 7/30/11, willful violator. |
Jacksonville | Rhode Island Red Inc. (DBA The UPS Store, delivery services) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 12/21/05; no longer debarred. |
Orlando | Wilson and Valerie Barbugli (recruiters of foreign labor) | H-2B. The couple has been jailed for what ICE calls a “$55 million visa fraud” in which large numbers of illegals paid the couple to be brought to the US illegally. See: a CIS blog, an ICE press release, and court records on PACER. |
West Palm Beach | Piminco (DBA Cecilia Valieme, food service/restaurant) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 11/26/06; no longer debarred. |
Pensacola | Bradley Consulting Services, Inc. (consulting) | H-1B. Debarred 6/1/09 to 5/31/11, willful violator. |
Tampa | United States Professional LLC (occupation unknown) | H-1B. Debarred July 31, 2010 to July 30, 2012 as a willful violator. |
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Georgia |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Blakeley | Strong Family Practice (medical practice) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 1/16/07; no longer debarred. |
Duluth | Sai Hyun Lee (lawyer) | Permanent Labor Certification. Debarred by DoL, and jailed by federal court for perjury in connection with labor certification application. Subsequently she filed for bankruptcy. Court records on PACER |
Marietta | LNBJ Construction (construction) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 12/5/07; no longer debarred. |
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Guam |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Hagatna | Hua Cheng International Group (employer is Steven Wang, AKA Shui Cheng, construction firm) | H-2B. Total of 124 indictments for breaking various labor, immigration and money- laundering laws. Court records on PACER. See also a CIS blog. |
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Illinois |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Chicago | Julian and Associates, Polytechnic Education and Career Services, et al. (vocational services) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 4/30/08; no longer debarred. |
Rolling Meadows | Comdata Consulting, Inc. (consulting) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 9/30/10 to 9/29/11. |
Woodbridge | Quest Software Services (software) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL from 6/30/10 to 6/29/11; not a willful violator. |
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Indiana |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Munster | Medical Clinics of America, Inc. (health care) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 4/26/07; no longer debarred. |
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Iowa |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Coon Rapids | Vision Systems Group, branch office of New Jersey corporation, headquartered in South Plainfield, N.J. (information technology) | H-1B and others. Identified by ICE press release; multiple violations, $7.4 million forfeiture sought by government. According to one ranking it was the 136th largest user of H-1Bs. Also see ICE press release. Court Records on PACER. |
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Louisiana |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
New Iberia | Construction and foreign contract labor firm. Name of firm not identified by GAO but probably: AMEB Business Group Inc. Owned by Alberto and Bernardo Pena. Name confirmation here and here. | H-2B. The GAO report indicates guilty pleas and jail terms. Employer told government it would employ H-2B workers from India; did not do so; did charge aliens “at least $20,000 for H-2B visas;” see other violations here, p. 8. |
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Maine |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Fort Kent | Pelletier & Pelletier (logging company) | H-2A. Debarred from 11/6/09 to 11/5/10; not now debarred. |
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Michigan |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Keego Harbor (near Detroit) | R-Tech Group, Ltd. (AKA R-Tech Ltd., IT and engineering services |
H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 1/1/09 to 12/31/10; not now debarred. |
Northville | Tisco Group (software) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL, but not a willful violator, 1/1/10 to 12/31/10; not now debarred. There is also a federal court case on an immigration matter, not necessarily related to the debarment, at PACER.] |
Pontiac | Allied Rehabilitation and Pain Management, Inc. (health care | H-1B. Two or more violations, one on 9/8/08, and debarred by DoL from 7/31/10 to 7/30/11. |
Troy | Amtech Electrocircuits (electronics) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 12/28/07; no longer debarred. |
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Mississippi |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Ridgeland | HPN Consulting Group, LLC (computer systems) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 3/15/06; no longer debarred. |
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Missouri |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Springfield | Healthcrest Enterprises (rehabilitation services | H-1B. Debarred by DoL but not a willful violator, 7/31/10 to 7/30/11. |
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Nevada |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Las Vegas | Sphero Trading Inc. (hardware importers) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 6/1/09 to 5/31/11. |
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New Jersey |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Fair Lawn | Citizens Mortgage Corporation (finance) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 7/31/10 to 7/30/12. |
Hamburg | Home Mortgage Company of America, Inc. (finance) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 4/6/06; no longer debarred. |
Iselin | Software Research Group Inc. (software) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 3/7/08; no longer debarred. |
Jersey City | Spaceage Consulting Corporation (computer systems) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 12/17/06; no longer debarred. |
Matawan | Pegasus Consulting Group (AKA Pegasus Systems, Inc., management consultant) |
H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 5/31/11 to 5/30/13. Also see court documents in PACER. Apparently more than $200,000 in back wages to H-1B workers and a $40,000 civil fine on the firm were at issue. |
Old Bridge | Corporate Horizons, Inc. (IT) | Permanent Labor Certification Program. Debarred by DoL from 9/29/09 to 9/28/12. |
Princeton Junction | Integrated Global Systems, Inc. (software development/consultation | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 1/1/10 to 12/31/11. |
Somerset | Multicare Therapy Center (health care) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 1/1/10 to 12/31/11. |
Woodbridge | Satya Marg Solutions, Inc. (software) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL but not a willful violator, 6/30/10 to 6/29/11. |
Woodbridge | Pegasus Consulting Group (management consulting) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 6/1/09 to 5/31/11. Also, see prior listing at Matawan, N.J. |
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New York |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Stony Brook | Carnival operator; employer not identified by GAO but probably Dreamland Amusements, Inc. | H-2B. Variety of violations, including “housed employees in cockroach-and bed-bug infested housing." Employer agreed to $325,000 settlement, no jail time, see p. 6
NY State also took action against firm, reached agreement to “pay workers back for unpaid wages” and “change its policies and procedures” |
Elmhurst | Juno Healthcare Staffing (health care staffing) | H-1B. DoL debarred firm as a willful violator from 7/31/10 to 7/30/12 Another source said that they had used 172 H-1B visas in the previous nine years, but fewer recently than earlier. |
New York City | Mertz, Bitelman & Associates (law firm) | H-1B. DoL debarred firm as a willful violator from 6/30/10 to 6/29/12. |
New York City | Technologies500 Holdings & Edu., Inc. (DBA Cybersoftec.Com, Inc., and Cybersoftec, Inc., and Nick & Narendra Mandalapa, consulting) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 8/11/07; no longer debarred. |
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North Carolina |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Chapel Hill | HR Prime, LLC (human resource consultants) | Permanent Labor Certification Program. Debarred by DoL 10/15/10 to 10/14/13. |
Oriental (near Morehead City) | Fulcher’s Red Fox Stables, LLC (stable for Tennessee Walking Horses) | H-2A. Debarred by DoL from 7/31/08 to 7/30/09. |
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Ohio |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Cleveland | Tribco David Bortz (friction products for brakes, clutches, etc.) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 2/8/09; no longer debarred. |
Columbus | New Hope Solutions (software) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL as a willful violator 1/1/09 to 12/31/10; no longer debarred. |
Dayton | Dayton Public Schools | H-1B. Willful violator on 11/16/07; no longer debarred. Interestingly, a CIS search of the e-archives of the Dayton Daily News, Immigration Daily, and its own archives turned up nothing. Prince George’s County, Md., schools also have a record of using the H-1B program badly. |
Richfield | Allied Solutions Group, Inc. (consulting, firm now in bankruptcy proceedings. Also located in Brecksville, OH; Novato, CA; plus U.K. and India.) |
H-1B.Debarred by DOL from 10/31/10 to 10/30/12, a willful violator. Several Allied employers are identified as H-1B aliens in a (perhaps unrelated) court case. See PACER and Dol. |
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Pennsylvania |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
West Chester | Employer not identified by GAO, but probably International Personnel Resources (temporary employment agency, also Arizona, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) | H-2B. According to the GAO report (see p. 5): “agency conspired with client businesses to return employed illegal aliens to native countries, and then fraudulently obtain[ed] H-2B visas to bring the employees back” and many other charges; guilty pleas, no jail time. |
Langhorne | Not identified by GAO but probably Brickman Group, LTD (landscaping firm) |
H-2B. A federal court approved the settlement of a civil case requiring back pay to H-2B workers and other conditions. There is a GAO report (see p. 10). Court records on PACER. |
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South Dakota |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Oacoma | Employer not identified by GAO, but probably Comfort Inn & Suites, owned by Robert John Farrell and Angelita Magat Farrell (hotel) |
H-2B. The GAO reports (see p. 6) that: “In 2008, the couple who owned the hotel was found guilty on nine counts, including conspiracy, holding people in peonage, making false statements, and visa fraud. “The husband was sentenced to 50 months in jail, while his wife received 36 months in jail. Each received a $15,000 fine.” Court records on PACER. |
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Tennessee |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Knoxville | U.S. Rural Health Services, LLC d/b/a Tazewell Primary Care Clinic & Rutledge Primary Care Clinic (health care) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 9/30/06; no longer debarred |
Nashville | Adept Consulting Technology Group, Inc. (network integration and management software) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 3/8/06; no longer debarred. |
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Texas |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Edinburg | Mata Trucking (trucking and farm work) | H-2A. Debarred from 6/28/09 to 6/27/11. Mata sought to use the apparently less strict H-2B program when it should have been using the H-2A program to recruit farm workers, and, consequently was sued in a case that may not relate to debarment; see summary of the case |
La Feria (near Harlingen) | Zamora Harvesting (harvesting firm) | H-2A. Debarred from 9/23/08 to 9/22/11 |
Muleshoe (Panhandle) | Fullmer Cattle Company (cattle company) | H-2A. Debarred from 8/17/09 to 8/16/11. |
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Virginia |
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City | Company | Program and Notes |
Hampton Roads | Employer not identified by GAO but probably V&K Services, owned by Viktar Krus (labor broker, hospitality employers, and immigration attorney |
H-2B. The GAO reports (p. 8) that: “Nineteen suspects pled guilty to several charges including conspiracy, visa fraud, and tax evasion charges that were linked to an international organized crime ring.” Some were sent to jail. Court Records on PACER. |
Based in Calabasas, Calif.; violation at Virginia locations in Chantilly, Chesapeake, Fredericksburg, Lorton, Mechanicsville, Newport News, and Yorktown | Employer not identified by GAO but probably ValleyCrest Landscape Companies (landscaping company based in Calabasas, Calif.; violation at Virginia locations: Chantilly, Chesapeake, Fredericksburg, Lorton, Mechanicsville, Newport News, and Yorktown) |
H-2B. The GAO reports (see p. 7) that a union filed a complaint that the firm discriminated against U.S. workers; the case was settled without an admission of liability but the employer paid a U.S. worker $11,173. The firm has received certifications for more than 2,500 H-2B workers since 2007. |
Falls Church | Netultimate.Com, Inc. (web design and software development; also has location in Brampton, Ontario) | H-1B. Debarred by DoL 6/1/09 to 5/31/11 but not a willful violator. |
Sterling | IT Wizards (systems applications and products ) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 8/30/07; no longer debarred. |
|
||
Washington |
||
City | Company | Program and Notes |
Bremerton | Crown Medical Clinics, Inc. (health care) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 9/23/07; not now debarred. |
Bothell | Ajay International (employment agency in high-tech field) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 12/12/05; not now debarred. |
Bothell | Ajay International and Real Technologies USA, Inc. (employment agency in high-tech field) | H-1B. Willful violator as of 5/3/06; not now debarred. See citation immediately above. |
Puyallup | Mahadeep Virk, DMD (dentristy) | H-1B. Debarred from 9/30/10 to 9/29/12 as willful violator. See PACER records. The case involves two dentists, (one the employer and the other the H-1B worker) and the Labor Department. |
End Notes
1 Calculated from Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010, Tables 8 and 337.
2 For more background on these programs, see, for instance (on the H-2A program), Importing Poverty: Immigration and the Changing Face of Rural America, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009, by Philip Martin of UC-Davis, and for excerpts from it, see http://www.magicvalley.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_6acfa50e5d935e... regarding the H-1B program, for instance, see Norm Matloff’s (also of UC-Davis) CIS Backgrounder “H-1Bs: Still Not the Best and the Brightest,” at http://www.cis.org/h1bs_not_best.html; and regarding the H-2B program, see David Seminara’s CIS Backgrounder “Dirty Work: In-Sourcing American Jobs with H-2B Guestworkers,” at http://www.cis.org/h2bguestworkers.
3 “H-2B Visa Program: Closed Civil and Criminal Cases Illustrate Instances of H-2B Workers Being Targets of Fraud and Abuse,” GAO-10-1053, Government Accountability Office, September 2010, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d101053.pdf.
4 “H-1B Visa Program: Reforms Are Needed to Minimize the Risks and Costs of Current Program,” Government Accountability Office, January 2011, p. 19, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d1126.pdf. This GAO report is not to be confused with the report on the H-2B program mentioned in the text.
5 2009 Annual Report, Washington, D.C.: Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification, 2010, p. 30.
6 There is no readily available count of H-2A employers, as opposed to applications submitted and approved for employers, a different concept. Presumably some employers file more than a single application, and thus the 1/1,278 ratio may be marginally too high as it relates to employers.
7 <2009 Annual report,Department of Labor op. cit., p. 32.
8 Calculated from Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics 2009 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, Table 7.
9 http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/0902/090212desmoines.htm.
10 https://www.epls.gov/epls/search.do.
11 See, for instance, http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Laws/Memoranda/Static_Files_Memoranda/2009/or....
12 See http://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/H1BDebarment.htm and http://www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/H1BWillfulViolator.htm.
13 GAO op. cit., p. 97. This is in the H-1B report.
14 http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/pdf/Debartment_List_Revisions.pdf.
15 http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d101053.pdf.
16 http://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/pdf/Debartment_List_Revisions.pdf.