ICE Goes After Three Restaurants with Little Success at OCAHO

The Office of Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO), which issued three decisions involving restaurants in March 2013 severely reduced ICE’s proposed penalties that is of interest for our clients in the Retail and NRA verticals. A summary of the cases are provided below and is courtesy of ILW  and is  authored by Bruce E. Buchanan, an […]

USCIS will no longer accept previous versions of Form I-9, Employers must use new I-9

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reminds employers that beginning today 05/07.2013 they must use the revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (Revision 03/08/13)N for all new hires and re-verifications. All employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each employee hired to work in the United States. The revision date of […]

I-9 Audits on the Rise

I-9 audits have seen a rapid increase in number along the years with audits scaling from next to none in 2004 to over 3000 in 2012.Employers should pay attention accordingly, as the fines for substantive and procedural violations of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) can add up quickly, Daniel Brown, an attorney with […]

Kansas City construction company owners indicted for money laundering, harboring illegal aliens

The owners and managers of a construction framing company in Spring Hill, Kan., were indicted in federal court Monday and charged with a wide variety of criminal violations related to hiring and harboring illegal aliens for the company. These indictments resulted from an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations […]

Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against Illinois Staffing Agency

The Justice Department today reached an agreement with an Illinois based staffing agency resolving claims that the staffing company violated the anti-discrimination provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The Justice Department’s investigation was initiated based on a referral from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) under a memorandum of agreement between the […]

Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Florida Healthcare Staffing Company to Resolve Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices

The Justice Department reached a settlement agreement today with a healthcare staffing company based in Casselberry, Fla., resolving allegations that the company posted discriminatory job advertisements on the internet. According to the department’s investigation, hundreds of the Healthcare Professionals’ internet-based job postings contained discriminatory language, impermissibly preferring foreign-trained individuals seeking permanent residence or H-1B visa […]

ICE fines Maine companies hiring unlawful employees

  Following an investigation and audit of Form I-9 documents by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, eight Maine employers were fined a total of $78,966.50 in fiscal year (FY) 2012 for various employment violations. The inspection of the employers’ documents is part of HSI’s worksite enforcement strategy that launched in 2009 to […]

ICE fines Massachusetts companies hiring unlawful employees
 worksite enforcement strategy holds employers accountable for violations

Following an investigation and audit of Form I-9 documents by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations,17 Massachusetts employers were fined a total of $349,619.54 in fiscal year (FY) 2012 for various employment violations. The inspection of the employers’ documents is part of HSI’s worksite enforcement strategy that launched in 2009 to reduce […]

Kansas corporation admits knowingly hiring illegal alien to run McDonald’s franchise

A Kansas corporation agreed to plead guilty Wednesday to an immigration charge after a federal investigation showed that the manager of one of its McDonald’s restaurants in Wichita was an illegal alien. This announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom, District of Kansas. This guilty plea agreement resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration […]