An immigration sweep of six Southeastern states this month and in June has turned up more than 4,000 illegal workers, most of whom have already been returned to their native countries, officials said.
Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner said Tuesday the raid was the largest in that region of the country in more than a decade. Officials believe the total could be a drop in the bucket."We do believe there are more illegal workers in this region than we have apprehended," said Meissner, who declined to give an estimate. "We will be continuing this operation as long as we continue to get good leads."
Of the 4,044 immigrants found to be illegally employed in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee, more than 3,400 have already been sent back to their native countries, she said.
More than 3,500 of the illegal immigrants were from Mexico. The remainder represented 44 countries throughout Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
More than 300 businesses were surveyed and inspected during the sweep, dubbed Operation SouthPAW (Protecting America's Workers).
To date, 10 employers in Alabama and Georgia have been cited and fined up to $15,000 for violating immigration hiring laws.
The INS also has launched more than 20 criminal prosecutions and investigations on charges including re-entry after deportation, distribution of counterfeit documents and alien smuggling, Meissner said.
Follow-up surveys and visits to gauge compliance with the laws found that more than 2,400 jobs held by undocumented immigrants before the sweeps have been filled by U.S. citizens and legal resident aliens, she said.
The illegal workers were paid less than $2 per hour to $15 per hour in manufacturing, construction, food processing, assembly, agriculture and service jobs, Meissner said. The average hourly wage was $7.