U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security responsible for investigating immigration violations and enforcing immigration laws at the worksite, announced a nationwide initiative to audit employers’ Form I-9 employment eligibility verification records on July 1, 2009. The announcement was followed by the issuance of Notices of Inspection to 652 employers across the country. This was a strong statement by ICE of their intentions to pursue worksite enforcement actions. In comparison, only 503 Notices of Inspection were issued in all of fiscal year 2008.
The ICE announcement is in line with the recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement that the Obama Administration is interested in focusing its resources on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. In conjunction with the notice the DHS Assistant Secretary for ICE John Morton stated “ICE is committed to establishing a meaningful I-9 inspection program to promote compliance with the law. This nationwide effort is a first step in ICE’s long-term strategy to address and deter illegal employment.”
Under the new worksite enforcement policy, ICE began notifying businesses that it planned to inspect their hiring records to see whether employees have proper employee documentation.
ICE has indicated that many of the companies were located in New York and California. On Wednesday, American Apparel Inc., a Los Angeles clothing retailer, confirmed that ICE gave notice that 1,600 of its 5,600 factory employees might be working illegally. It couldn’t verify the status of 200 others. In Arizona alone, federal immigration-enforcement agents notified 32 Arizona companies on Wednesday that their employment records are being audited.
In this era of worksite enforcement, it is critical for employers to recognize and pre-empt immigration related liabilities due to non-compliance with federal immigration regulations. Experienced immigration counsel is invaluable to companies during this time, as they can assist with internal I-9 internal audits and providing Human Resources’ personnel with ongoing training and tools for compliance. Such actions can limit exposure and liability and establish record-keeping procedures that will establish compliance in case of an audit by ICE.
