Tree Trimmer to Pay $95M for Hiring Undocumented Workers

Asplundh Tree Expert Co. will pay $95 million after pleading guilty to hiring undocumented immigrants, the largest payment ever levied in an immigration case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced.

The amount represents an $80 million criminal forfeiture and $15 million in civil penalties, the U.S. attorney’s office said Sept. 28 (U.S. v. Asplundh Tree Experts, Co., E.D. Pa., No. 2:17-cr-00492, judgment entered 9/28/17). Under the scheme, “the highest levels of Asplundh management remained willfully blind while lower level managers hired and rehired employees they knew to be ineligible to work in the ...