US vows crackdown on illegal immigrant worker abuse

MEXICO CITY, June 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. government under President Barack Obama plans to step up prosecutions of employers who abuse illegal immigrants on the job, a senior U.S. immigration official said in Mexico on Friday.

"(There are) employers who employ illegal labor in abusive conditions, don't pay them the minimum wage, make them work hours beyond the 40-hour week work, don't pay them overtime," said John Morton, who heads the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

"I intend to try to identify and prosecute those people much more vigorously than in the past," Morton told a small group of reporters at the U.S. Embassy after meeting with Mexican officials.

After just three weeks on the job, Morton traveled to Mexico to discuss security along the U.S.-Mexican border, which stretches about 2,000 miles (4,800 km).

Many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States entered the country from Mexico.

"We are going to enforce the law, that's our responsibility. ... I intend to make sure we do that responsibly, humanely and thoughtfully," Morton said.

Morton also said his agency is committed to cooperating with the Mexican government to control the flow of money and weapons south into Mexico, where they are used to help fuel a war with drug cartels that has claimed some 2,500 lives this year alone. (Reporting by Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Will Dunham)