Asplundh tree company to pay record fine ($95 MILLION) for immigration practices

[Biggy]

Its about time. Just the tip of the iceburg though.

http://6abc.com/asplundh-tree-co-to-...tices/2464552/

WILLOW GROVE, Pa. (WPVI) -- A suburban Philadelphia tree-trimming company whose orange trucks are a familiar sight in communities throughout the United States will pay a record fine after pleading guilty in a scheme to employ thousands of people in the country illegally.

Asplundh Tree Expert Co. of Willow Grove, a utility contractor best known for pruning and removing trees around power lines, pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal criminal charge and was ordered to pay a total of $95 million. Prosecutors called it the largest monetary penalty ever levied in an immigration case.

[Coal Dragger]

This is the best solution to the illegal immigration problem. Remove the demand for illegals as a cheap labor source by making it extremely risky to employ them. No jobs for illegals = no economic opportunity = Self deportation of said illegals.

[26 Inf]

Well, pooh, no more Spanish practice when they trim the trees in my yard away from the power lines.

That be the way to do it. Even better, put some CEO's and Board Members in the hoosegow and this ol' boy will never get enough practice to be bilingual.

[Coal Dragger]

This is the best solution to the illegal immigration problem. Remove the demand for illegals as a cheap labor source by making it extremely risky to employ them. No jobs for illegals = no economic opportunity = Self deportation of said illegals.

[SteyrAUG]

Yeah, we have assplunder down here.

They are famous for property damage when trimming trees back from power lines and such. If it's in your back yard they will definitely drop something on it, punch a hole in it, break it or sometimes even borrow it. Glad to see them hacking my neighbors jungle growth away from power lines but every time I see them working the block I put everything that I can in the shed.

Several years ago I actually witnessed a worker pissing in my neighbors back yard. I understand if you gotta go you gotta go and I'm sympathetic to that need, but standing out in the open and just pissing on the hedges and the fence didn't seem right. I guess at least it wasn't my yard.

[Firefly]

Good.

De-incentivize criminality.

[Nightvisionary]

I just had a conversation about this last week with a buddy that had worked in the landscaping business for 20 years starting in the early 90's. His first employer Dave, paid him $10 dollars an hour back in 1993 and refused to hire illegal labor. Dave told my buddy back then that when he started out in the early 80's the pay for a landscaper was $10 an hour as it was a strenuous job that required a fair bit of knowledge about plants, chemicals, growing seasons and tools.

A decade later in order to compete with companies taking advantage of the growing pool of illegal low skilled labor. Dave explained that at the time he could charge $25-$30 an hour per man so he could make $10 an hour, his employee could make $10 an hour and the rest went to business expenses. I worked for Dave for a short time back then making $10 an hour and was glad to get it. Move ahead to 2009 and my buddy owned his own landscaping business. When I got laid off during the big recession I went to work for him making guess what, $10 an hour. If my buddy was lucky he personally might clear $12-$15 an hour as he worked alongside me. We had a few accounts in the most affluent community in Oregon. As far as I could tell we were a dying breed as the only American landscaping crew working in the town. We ran into Dave a few times. He was still in business but had an all Mexican crew making $10 an hour.

My buddy eventually closed up shop and went into the construction trade only to be pushed out of that for the most part by the same guys. Construction used to be a well paying job, now not so much unless you are in a union getting large projects. I work with a real nice kid who is a "Dreamer". On a personal level I have a lot of empathy for his situation that his family created. At the same time it rubs me wrong that he as a non-citizen is working in a corporate security job for a fortune 200 company making $17 an hour plus benefits. At the same time he is very close on the hiring list to getting on with the local Sheriff's office in a non-sworn facility security position since US citizenship is only required for sworn positions. I can't help but think that a young vet of Iraq or Afghanistan would be well qualified and deserving of either position. That is one of the reasons why there is wage stagnation in this country and it is creeping upwards.

I get that everyone would like to have cheap goods and services but we pay full price out the back end for all of it in the form of increased taxes to pay for additional education, jails, police, social services, you name it. Other things you can't put a price on like my buddy who was killed while on duty by someone who wouldn't have been in the country if we had a sane immigration policy. The entire issue could be solved almost overnight if all businesses were required to use E-verify on SSN's for any employee for which they deduct wages as a business expense. If the employer chose not to do it no problem they just don't get a tax deduction on those wages paid out.

The system is not working as designed to the detriment of the American people and unfortunately I don't see it changing for the better.

[Jsp10477]

$95 million? Pocket change to Asplundh. Most people don't realize just how big they are. I will say, they took this seriously. I work for one of their electrical contracting companies. The problem isn't hiring illegals. The problem is making sure the same guy you hire shows up. New policies will help with that.

[Dist. Expert 26]

Keep it rolling. Hit the big guys first, then work down to landscaping and construction crews. If nobody will employ illegals the problem will correct itself without the need for a border wall.

[Jsp10477]

Keep it rolling. Hit the big guys first, then work down to landscaping and construction crews. If nobody will employ illegals the problem will correct itself without the need for a border wall.

I guarantee there are more illegals working for small landscape companies than "the big guys". Difference is who can pay the fines. The fines, therefore, head lines are smaller though. At least working for the big guy, taxes are paid.