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This article was originally published by the Wisconsin Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors in its August 2007 Merit Shop Talk newsletter.

The Salting Plague is Spreading:  Now Immigration Agencies Are Doing It

By Jim Pease

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) has become more aggressive in enforcing laws that prohibit employers from employing undocumented aliens.  ICE has adopted the strategy of using salts to try to catch employers who were violating the law.

Recently, in the State of Oregon, ICE recruited an undocumented alien to act as a “confidential informant,” or salt.  The salt applied for work at a targeted employer who ICE believed was knowingly employing undocumented aliens.  The salt told the employer that he had no legal status in the United States and that he didn’t have any identification.

According to the salt’s affidavit, the employer hired the salt and provided him with a bogus Social Security card.  The salt’s affidavit also contained observations by the salt and reports from other employees indicating that the employer was violating federal and state wage and hour laws, child labor laws, and work place safety regulations.

Based on the salt’s affidavit, ICE obtained warrants to enable it to seize evidence from the employer of the following crimes:  (1) Hiring of illegal aliens; (2) harboring illegal aliens; (3) encouraging illegal aliens to reside in the U.S.; (4) identity theft; (5) immigration document fraud, and (6) Social Security fraud.  ICE used that warrant to conduct a raid on the employer’s offices and carry away company files, documents, computers and other evidence that might show unlawful conduct by the employer.

What is of even greater concern is that other government agencies worked with ICE in conducting the raid based on the evidence obtained by the salt.  This suggests that a growing number of federal and state agencies may be willing to use salts in order to ferret out violators of the laws they administer.

Recognize that these salts are generally wired for sound.  It is difficult to deny a statement when the government has a tape recording of that statement.

For employers, the government’s use of salts emphasizes the importance of strict compliance with the laws because employers will never know whether an employee or an applicant is really acting as an agent of the government collecting evidence of any wrongdoing in which the employer might be engaging.

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