Former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon called for renewed immigration enforcement measures on Tuesday, urging the Trump administration to reinstate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace raids and pursue criminal charges against corporate executives who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

During a segment on his show Bannon’s War Room, Bannon argued that illegal immigration is being driven by economic incentives created by U.S. employers.

He pointed specifically to hiring practices in states like Texas and demanded that ICE resume on-site raids at workplaces employing undocumented workers.

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“I keep saying this is why I’d like to see more ICE raids, Kristi Noem, at businesses,” Bannon said.

“And let’s perp walk out a couple of CEOs and COOs that know that they’re hiring these people illegally. That’s the magnet. If you want to stop it, you got to stop it.”

Bannon referenced the Sarbanes-Oxley Act — passed in the early 2000s to improve corporate accountability — as a model for imposing civil and criminal penalties on business leaders who violate federal immigration laws.

“One of the key parts was it put CFOs and CEOs on the hook, I think, for civil and criminal penalties, and things got sorted out,” Bannon said.

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Under the approach Bannon suggested, executives who violate hiring laws would face a three-strike system.

“First time, OK, you get a little penalty. You get, hey, you can’t do that again. Second time you get some penalty. But third time, maybe you got some criminal activity here,” he said.

“Because you’re basically enticing criminals who are illegal aliens to come in and work and take American jobs.”

Bannon also criticized policies in Texas that he said incentivize illegal immigration, including providing in-state tuition to undocumented students.

“In Texas, you’re still paying for in-state tuition for illegal aliens. Suck on that for a second. How does that make you feel?” he asked.

He also voiced support for expanding E-Verify and increasing cooperation between local sheriffs and federal immigration authorities.

“They got to get a bill to get the sheriffs, the resources, and the bandwidth to work together,” Bannon said.

“The E-Verify would drop it dramatically. They hate E-Verify. That’s because it goes in automatically and shows who the illegal aliens are.”

Bannon dismissed arguments that illegal immigrants only take jobs Americans do not want.

“And they say ‘Oh, Steve, people don’t want those jobs.’ Well, hey, let’s get the wages right. And we’ll see.”

Bannon’s comments come amid an ongoing federal effort to enforce immigration laws at the employer level.

ICE has recently taken enforcement actions against several companies for employing unauthorized workers.

In one case, Durable Inc., an aluminum manufacturer based in Illinois, was fined over $329,000 after ICE found that 92% of its workforce was undocumented.

In separate cases, Atrium Companies and Advanced Containment Systems Inc. each agreed to forfeit $2 million and implement new immigration compliance programs after investigations revealed hiring violations.

In February, the Department of Justice announced that Ping Ping Zheng, owner of Kamiya 86 Asian Bistro in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty to harboring undocumented workers for commercial gain.

Zheng allegedly provided undocumented employees with free housing, transportation to and from the restaurant, and cash wages without tax withholding. She faces up to 10 years in federal prison, with sentencing pending.

While enforcement at the employer level has increased in recent months, Bannon argued that visible and high-profile action — including the arrest of executives — would serve as a more effective deterrent.

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