The United States is using harsh new efforts to punish employers who hire illegal immigrants.

One Fujianese restaurant employer in Florida was sentenced to 18 months in prison for hiring undocumented immigrants and had his Green Card confiscated after serving a prison sentence. Another Chinese employer, in Virginia, was fined $60,000 for hiring three illegal immigrants.

Community members say the legal system in the United States has become very harsh in investigating and prosecuting employers who hire illegal immigrants. Once prosecuted, quite a few of them have to pay tens of thousands dollars in fines, the numbers of those who had to serve prison time is also increasing.

Mr. Wang, who owned a restaurant in Florida, was from Fujian, China. A few years ago, because of a heated argument with his girlfriend over a personal matter, she became angry and sued him in court. She alleged that he was operating as a “snakehead,” involved in the human trafficking business. Furthermore, she also accused him of illegally storing weapons in his restaurant so that he could abuse the workers there.

After an investigation by the local prosecutor, it was discovered that the accusations from the woman were completely untrue. But the prosecution did discover that six of the employees who worked at Wang’s restaurant had no legal status. The government charged Wang and a Florida court indicted him last year. He had to serve 18 months in prison.

According to Mr. Wang’s brother, his family thought the case would be closed after he served the prison term. But the judge deemed the case to be so serious that he confiscated Wang’s Green Card. After he served his prison term, he was sent directly to detention with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. His brother said that Wang has been in detention close to three months already. The family has been talking to lawyers to determine whether Wang can be released.

This October, a Chinese restaurant owner in Virginia was fined for employing illegal immigrants. His Fujianese relatives said that an immigration officer was looking for a Chinese woman who had an arrest warrant against her. Although he found that the woman had already moved out, he started to investigate the immigration status of the restaurant employees. He discovered that three did not have legal status. According to the law, the owner was fined $20,000 per person. He not only had to pay the fine, but he now stands the risk of also being prosecuted by the government.

Community members hoped that since the Democratic Party won the mid-term elections and took control of Congress, the party would quickly amend the current immigration policies in order to improve the difficult living conditions of immigrants and to offer them a way to survive.