A restaurant in the Houston area has combined forces with the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by joining IMAGE, their employment compliance program, otherwise known as the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers.
Joe Neel McGovern, the owner of Pappa Yolk’s Grill in Pasadena, was happy volunteering to join the IMAGE program, and the partnership was marked with a ceremony at the CSI Houston office on Wednesday. The HSI’s special agent in charge, Mark Dawson, said that American businesses are hurt by bad hiring practices, making it important to forge such partnerships with the business community. Dawson added that the IMAGE program plays a vital role in safeguarding the economy by ensuring better business practices.
McGovern says that the partnership will strengthen the hiring practices of his business and teach his employees how they can abide by the laws of the US. McGovern adds that he believes the partnership will make the restaurant safer for both employees and customers and urges other businesses to become partners with HSI on the IMAGE program. Pappa Yolk’s Grill, at 5824 Spencer Highway, has been in business for almost 34 years, since late 1983.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement says that undocumented immigrant workers cause vulnerabilities in the marketplace by gaining employment with the use of fraudulent documents, sometimes stealing the identities of real US workers, and completing fraudulent applications for benefits. The IMAGE program was created in 2006 to combat this.