Senator Moreno suggests 20-year prison sentences for executives whose companies employ unauthorized workers.

U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno, a Republican from Westlake, has put forth a bill that seeks to impose harsh penalties on corporate executives whose companies hire unauthorized immigrants. Moreno’s proposed legislation, known as the “Strengthening Accountability for Employers Hiring Individuals and Reforming Enforcement Act” or the “SAFE HIRE Act,” would mandate that human resource officers at publicly traded companies verify the legal work status of their employees in their annual reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Under Moreno’s proposed law, executives would be required to disclose any significant flaws in their internal procedures that could affect their compliance with federal employment eligibility requirements and report any instances of employing illegal workers to the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Taking inspiration from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which held corporate leaders personally accountable for misrepresenting financial information, Moreno’s bill threatens executives who falsify reports with fines of up to $1 million, imprisonment for up to a decade, or both.

Moreover, executives whose companies hire unauthorized workers could face fines reaching $5 million and prison sentences of up to 20 years. While it is already illegal for companies to hire individuals unauthorized to work in the United States, enforcement has been inconsistent, and penalties for violating these laws have been less severe than those outlined in Moreno’s proposal. For instance, in 2021, the executive vice president of a Chicago staffing company received probation and a $15,000 fine for rehiring 17 undocumented workers using false identities, despite being previously flagged by ICE audits.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, penalties for employers hiring or retaining undocumented workers can range from $573 per unauthorized employee for a first offense to $22,927 per employee for subsequent violations. Employers may face criminal charges, and individuals in ownership or managerial positions could be subject to six months in prison if found to have a pattern of hiring unauthorized workers. The organization notes that criminal prosecutions of employers knowingly hiring undocumented individuals are infrequent, with those convicted often receiving minimal punishments.

A naturalized immigrant from Colombia and former luxury car sales business owner, Moreno argues that proponents of open borders aim to drive down American wages in order to cater to wealthy donors who seek cheap foreign labor. He stresses the importance of prioritizing American workers and insists that executives who exploit immigrants with low wages should face personal liability and severe repercussions if caught. In Moreno’s view, the United States should not be built on the exploitation of labor, and the well-being of American workers must take precedence.