Musings on Immigration

On September 30, 2013, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ends its fiscal year.  As we look back on 2013 we will see that Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE), the principle investigative arm of DHS, continues to focus on employer compliance.  According to reports, ICE audited over 3,000 businesses in 2012. How does that compare to prior years? In 2007, ICE conducted 250 workplace compliance audits, 2008 that number doubled to 503. In 2009 the amount of I-9 audits more than doubled to 1,444, 2000 in 2010 and 2,496 in 2011. From fiscal years 2009 to 2012, the total amount of fines grew to nearly $13 million from $1 million.  Statistics released by ICE in July 2012 reveal that overall $87.9 Million in fines have been imposed on employers for violations. In 2012 there were 520 criminal arrests tied to worksite enforcement investigations.  Criminal charges range from harboring to knowingly hiring illegal aliens.  Statistics for 2013 are expected to be ...

Interview with the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce discussing the new version of Form I-9. On March 8, 2013, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that effective immediately, all NEW hires by U.S. employers should fill out the new version of Form I-9 , which is identified in the lower, left-hand corner of the form with the label “Form I-9 03/08/13 N”.   Starting May 8, 2013 , use of the new version of the form is mandatory. [We previously reported that employers must start using the new form on May 7, 2013.  However, USCIS has now clarified that the correct date is May 8, 2013.  On March 20, 2013, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) reported the following:  The AILA Verification and Documentation Committee took note of the conflicting information contained in the March 13, 2013 Federal Register notice introducing the revised I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification Form and contacted the USCIS Verification Division to...

On March 8, 2013, USCIS announced that all U.S. employers should begin using Form I-9 [with a revision date of “(Rev. 03/08/13)N”)] to comply with their employment eligibility verification responsibilities for NEW employees.   The revision date is located in the bottom left-hand corner of the form.    Here is a  PDF version of the new Form I-9 .   After May 7, 2013, all prior versions of Form I-9 can no longer be used and  employers who fail to use the new Form I-9 will be subject to all penalties, as enforced by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).    The key revisions to the Form I-9 include: Adding data fields, including the employee’s foreign passport information (if applicable) and telephone and e-mail addresses. Improving the form’s instructions. Revising the layout of the form, expanding the form from one to two pages (not including the form instructions and the List...

Much has been made recently of the increased ICE enforcement activity against employers. The majority of this enforcement activity is directed towards the Form I-9 and whether or not employers have either properly completed the Form, or have somehow knowingly hired individuals who are not authorized to work. In support of this enforcement activity, in May 2010, ICE released the “ICE Guide to Administrative Form I-9 Inspections and Civil Monetary Penalties.” That agency field manual provides insight into the administrative procedures and penalty scheme for administrative inspections for the agency’s special agents and forensic auditors. This “fine guideline” only briefly discusses the remedial impact of “auditing” a company’s Forms I-9 PRIOR to ICE serving a Notice of Inspection on the company. There have been countless seminars over the last several years talking about the need for Human Resource (HR) professionals to “audit” their own Forms I-9, and even describing how this auditing...