Many of our valued employees are legal immigrants, so we pay close attention to federal and state debates over new immigration legislation. At Murphy-Brown and its subsidiaries’ operations, for example, roughly one quarter of our workforce are legal immigrants. Our immigrant workforce brings a richness and diversity to our operations and the communities in which we live.
We would like to see comprehensive U.S. immigration reform that ensures we can maintain an adequate and stable workforce and provide opportunities for legitimate workers who seek employment at companies like ours. We believe the United States should protect legal immigrants and their employers and provide paths to citizenship for those willing to work.
We are committed to complying with all federal laws and welcome opportunities to enhance our compliance. We participate in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) IMAGE program—ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers. The voluntary program works in targeted sectors to reduce unauthorized employment. As an associate member of IMAGE, we work with ICE to strengthen our hiring practices and develop a more secure workforce. In addition, all of our plants are members of E-Verify, a voluntary, Internet-based program run by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to help determine employment eligibility.
We do everything we can to ensure the integrity of our workforce. However, we and other employers face significant challenges in determining the eligibility of employees due in part to identity theft and the increasing availability of high-quality forged documents that allow undocumented workers to thwart even the best hiring practices and skirt the laws.
