U.S. v. Santiago's Repacking, Inc.

                             U. S. v. Santiago’s Repacking, Inc.  

The Office of Chief Administrative Hearing Officer ("OCAHO") granted Immigration and Customs Enforcement partial summary decision in employer sanctions case and reduced penalties assessed for I-9 violations. 

The OCAHO is  within the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), and it has jurisdiction over, among other things, civil penalty cases arising under the Immigration Nationality Act's employer sanctions provision, section 274A.

In U.S. v. Santiago's Repacking, Inc, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Ellen K. Thomas granted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE's) motion for summary decision with respect to liability on two counts of its three-count complaint, granted the respondent Santiago's Repacking, Inc. summary judgment on the third count, and imposed reduced penalties.

Count I of ICE's complaint against Santiago's Repacking, Inc. (Santiago's) asserted that Santiago's hired 24 individuals and failed to prepare or present Form I-9 for them upon request. 

Count II alleged that Santiago's hired 30 additional individuals and also failed to prepare or present Forms I-9 for them upon request but sought lesser penalties. 

Count III alleged that the company hired one individual, Santiago Moreno, for whom it failed to ensure that the individual properly completed Section 1 of the form and/or failed itself to properly complete Section 2 or 3. 

Penalties sought were assessed at the rate of $981 for each of the violations in Count I, $935 for each of the violations in Count II, and $935 for the violation in Count III, for a total civil money penalty of $52,529. 

 At the conclusion of the hearing, ALJ Thomas concluded that Santiago's Repacking, Inc. is a small business and it has no history of previous violation. As a result she found that the proposed fines were at the high end of the permissible penalty range and, considering the record as a whole, the statutory factors, and the evidentiary submissions, concluded that they should be adjusted as Santiago's Repacking, Inc.'s is a small company with ordinary business income in 2010 of only $58,457 and its payroll for that entire year was $226,531, so that the proposed penalties are close to the total of the company's business income for 2010. Thus, she adjusted the penalty to $400 for each of the violations in Count I and $350 for each of the violations in Count II, for a total of $20,100.  For more information please see the September 10, 2012, 89 No. 35 Interpreter Releases 1713.