Sen. Bernie Moreno (R–OH) is taking decisive action to protect American workers and uphold legal employment standards with his new bill that would impose firm penalties on companies caught hiring illegal immigrants. By holding executives accountable for knowingly employing illegal workers, Moreno’s proposal mirrors the Trump-era push to punish those enabling illegal immigration.
On Thursday, Moreno introduced the SAFE HIRE Act, which follows the footsteps of the overwhelmingly bipartisan Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which held corporate executives personally responsible if they cooked their books. Moreno’s legislation would, for the first time, hold executives accountable for disregarding America’s immigration laws.
"While liberals like Gavin Newsom pretend to care about human rights, the sad truth is that the Democrats’ open borders agenda is really about undercutting American wages and ensuring their billionaire donors have a constant supply of cheap, foreign labor," Moreno said. “So let’s make this simple, executives who abuse illegal immigrants with slave wages should be held personally liable and face severe consequences if they’re caught. This cannot be a country built on servitude, American workers must come first.”
The SAFE HIRE Act would require executives and HR officers at publicly traded companies to certify in their annual SEC filings that all employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S. They must also report any major compliance failures or known violations to both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). If companies knowingly hire illegal immigrants, they must disclose this publicly. Executives who lie about these reports could face up to $1 million in fines and 10 years in prison, with even harsher penalties, up to $5 million and 20 years, for those tied to hiring illegal workers.
🚨New Moreno bill to penalize executives who hire illegals:
— Team Moreno (@teammoreno2024) July 17, 2025
“Democrats’ open borders agenda is really about undercutting American wages and ensuring their billionaire donors have a constant supply of cheap, foreign labor…American workers must come first.” -@berniemoreno 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/MiXy2avyl8
Moreno has become a strong voice for tough immigration reform, championing a series of hardline bills that emphasize national sovereignty, secure borders, and strict legal entry standards. The Ohio Republican approaches immigration with an “America First” mindset, advocating for stricter enforcement, merit-based entry, and a zero-tolerance policy toward sanctuary cities. He also supports resuming construction of the Trump-era border wall, designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations, and ending birthright citizenship.
