Enforcement is lax, especially in a post-9/11 world. The government doesn't have the time or resources to devote to rounding up illegal gardeners or maids; instead, it focuses on national security and critical infrastructure sites.

A Government Accountability Office report in August found worksite arrests were down from 2,849 in 1999 to 445 in 2003. In 1999, 417 civil notices of intent to fine employers for hiring illegal workers were issued, not counting civil settlements; in 2003, there were just four. Part of that may be due to employees using false documents, making it harder for employers to be held accountable.

But since the Immigration and Naturalization Service disbanded and Immigration and Customs Enforcement was created in 2003, the focus has switched to criminal investigations of national security sites instead of civil fines.

From 2004 to 2005 the number of work site criminal indictments, mostly from national security investigations, were up from 67 to 140.

But with the government occupied with national security sites, the numbers show the practice of hiring illegal workers is not only tolerated, but largely ignored.

Nowhere is that more evident than in communities across the country where thousands of illegal immigrants wait for work on street corners. With the federal government paying little attention, many cities have been forced to create day-labor sites, where job seekers can congregate at a central location without loitering near businesses and bothering citizens.

That has come with its own set of problems. Critics don't believe local governments should use tax dollars to fund centers that cater to illegal immigrants.

In Herndon, Va., six residents, represented by the conservative legal group Judicial Watch, have sued the town over its plans to create a day labor site. And in Farmingville, N.Y., Hispanics have been beaten, harassed and evicted in disputes over day laborers.

'No one's solving the problem,' said Wade Bohn, owner of Jay's Market, a gas station near where day laborers loiter in Las Vegas. The county here is considering creating a day labor center.

'They're just moving it. Instead of enacting some type of legislation that forces them to become legitimate, they're trying to find a way to corral them and put them in a center.

'Something just smacks me all wrong about that.'

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