Posted on 07/25/2018 6:51:15 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents completed the second phase of employment record audits started in June, investigating more than 2,700 businesses and arresting 32 people.
ICE ‘s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department announced that the first phase of the program, from January 29 to March 30, began with 2,540 Notices of Intent to audit (NOI) and yielded 61 arrests.
The second phase, from July 16 to 20, saw HSI agents serving 2,738 audit NOIs and arresting 32 individuals.
Employers are required to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all new hires, and to document that information using the Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9. After getting an NOI an employer has three days to file I-9s.
According to the law firm FoleyHoag LLP, employers must produce Form I-9s and supporting documents, including payroll records, employee lists, articles of incorporation, and more.
If during audits, employers are found not to be in compliance they could face civil or criminal charges. Illegal immigrants discovered during these audits are subject to detention and deportation.
“This is not a victimless crime,” HSI Acting Executive Associate Director Derek N. Benner said in a statement.
“Unauthorized workers often use stolen identities of legal U.S. workers, which can significantly impact the identity theft victim’s credit, medical records, and other aspects of their everyday life.”
ICE assessed $97.6 million in judicial forfeitures, fines, and restitution, and $7.8 million in civil fines in fiscal 2017 (Oct. 1, 2016 through Sept. 30, 2017.)
HSI uses inspections and civil penalties, criminal penalties, and outreach, to enforce U.S. employment laws.
According to an ICE press release, “ICE uses the I-9 inspection program to promote compliance with the law, part of a comprehensive strategy to address and deter illegal employment. Inspections are one of the most powerful tools the federal government uses to ensure that businesses are complying with U.S. employment laws.”
Employers not in compliance—that is, employers found to be knowingly employing illegal aliens—face civil fines, and potential debarment from consideration for federal contracts.
According to FoleyHoag, even paperwork violations can cost an employer between $216 and $2,126 for each I-9. Penalties for knowingly hiring and continuing to employ violations range from $375 to $16,000 per violation.
HSI can also criminally arrest employers and administratively arrest illegal workers. The workers won’t have criminal records but will likely be deported.
ICE is stepping up efforts to keep employers from providing a haven for illegal aliens.
Between Oct. 1, 2017 and May 4, 2018, HSI more than doubled the number of audits and arrests from all of fiscal 2017.
In fiscal year 2017, HSI opened 1,716 worksite investigations; initiated 1,360 I-9 audits; and made 139 criminal arrests and 172 administrative arrests related to worksite enforcement.
Between Oct. 1, 2017 and July 20, 2018, HSI opened 6,093 worksite investigations and made 675 criminal and 984 administrative worksite-related arrests—almost triple the volume of fiscal 2017.
The final portion of the enforcement triad is outreach. ICE has created the IMAGE program—ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers—to keep employers clear and up to date on their requirements—and the risks of non-compliance.
Stop wasting time...e-verify now.
ICE is doing it again...
Separating people...
Oh, wait...
This time, they’re separating people from their places of work and from their jobs.
Never mind...
The employer relied on a Social Security number that when submitted was shown to be okay even though the IRS shows it as a duplicate. Is that true?
I like it!
Hallelujah! Sending a few employers of illegals to prison will send a strong message.
Someone explain what happened to I-9’s, as far as I know they are still required by law to be completed before a person can work and they require legal documentation. I-9’s are not as good as E-Verify, but still better than nothing and in any case after two or three payrolls the IRS always sends a polite inquiry when the social the employee is using doesn’t match up, so they still need to hammer on these employers who decide to keep someone on payroll when they have been notified that the docs are bogus.
YEARS AGO, I was told to never question the “proof” documents presented by a new employee, even if they are obviously fake.
The lawsuit liability costs of getting just one out a of thousand wrong, outweigh the costs of any potential fines.
I wonder if there is a particular employer that had been raided in the past I know is shaking in their boots.
Lock Em Up!
Outweighed.
Past tense.
That is the type of enforcement that will encourage self-removal among the illegal aliens.
We have only been waiting for 28 years and four Presidents, two of each party.
Congress has to make e-verify mandatory and so far they have refused because there are still too many Bush League Republicans who still want amnesty.
I had a much greater respect for fines and consequences of hiring an illegal than someone having to come up with additional ID.
And legally, no one is a "new employee" until they have successfully completed an I-9, until then they are just job applicants. At least that's the way it was supposed to work and designed to be used.
There are "civil rights" groups that will send applicants with odd looking (but valid) documents purely hoping to catch you discriminating.
The last company I was with finally went to doing background checks on every single person who was being considered. That shot our hiring costs through the stratosphere but we could be sure of being safe from ICE, the unions and the phishing groups.
Or so we thought. Then we came across the guys who get their green card, work a few years and then sell their documents to someone else.
Not much of a way to stop that.
I love it.
McDonalds is hosed . . .
My wife works in HR for an owner/operator of 16 stores (over 850 employees total). She was told in no uncertain terms by the EEOC it was not her place to police whether employee information on I-9’s was valid.
“HSI can also criminally arrest employers and administratively arrest illegal workers. The workers won’t have criminal records but will likely be deported.”
So why are we not reading about employers being tried, found guilty, and sent to jail?
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