Apple has reached a settlement of 25 million dollars, equivalent to 23 million euros, with the US Department of Justice. The company has been accused of running a discriminatory recruitment campaign and attracting immigrants without residence permits.

The Ministry of Justice writes on Thursday About the settlement it reached with Apple. According to the department, the agency discriminated against U.S. citizens, temporary resident aliens, permanent residents and non-resident immigrants over status holders.

The government agency found that Apple violated the Immigration and Nationality Act when recruiting through the Permanent Worker Certification Program (PERM), which allows companies to offer permanent contracts to foreign workers. In recruiting employees for this program, the department says that Apple does not advertise any vacancies on its website, “although it does regularly post other vacancies on this website.”

The company noted that Apple only accepts PERM applications by mail and “does not consider applications from current employees at Apple if they are submitted electronically.” “These hiring practices have always resulted in some applications for PERM positions or applicants whose authorization to work has not expired,” the department said.

The Justice Department did not say which Apple jobs were affected by the hiring practices or whether Apple may have benefited from them. The bulk of the settlement, $18.25 million, will go toward setting up a fund for victims. The remaining $6.75 million must be paid in civil penalties.

Apple denies discrimination. explains the AP news agency. “Apple employs more than 90,000 people in the United States and continues to invest and create millions of jobs across the country. When we realized that we had inadvertently failed to comply with the law, we agreed to settle pending the Justice Department.”