Justice Department Settles Immigration-related Discrimination Claim Against An Employment Group

The Justice Department today reached an agreement with an employment group, based in Salt Lake City resolving claims that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The department’s investigation confirmed allegations made by a work-authorized individual that the company had, at both initial hire and when subsequently re-verifying the […]

Justice Department Enters into Memorandum of Understanding with National Labor Relations Board

The Justice Department announced today that the Civil Rights Division’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Labor Relations Board, formalizing a collaborative relationship that allows both agencies to share information, refer matters to each other and coordinate investigations as appropriate.  […]

Justice Department Reaches Settlement with Leading Facility Services Company

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement with a leading facility services company resolving allegations that the company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).  The company, with headquarters in San Antonio, Texas, employs approximately 15,000 employees in the United States. The Justice Department’s investigation was initiated […]

DHS Announces Re-designation and 18-Month Extension of Temporary Protected Status for Syria

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano has re-designated Syria for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and extended the existing TPS designation for the country from Oct. 1, 2013, through March 31, 2015. This allows eligible nationals of Syria to register or re-register for TPS in accordance with a notice published today in the Federal Register. U.S. […]

Changes in Policy for Electronically Storing & Completing I-9

Just last month, the Worksite Investigation Enforcement Unit of the Immigration & Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) division of the Department of Homeland Security announced a change in policy regarding the use of electronic software for I-9 completion, storage, and compliance. ICE stated publicly that it will no longer accept I-9 forms that have Section 1 content […]

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 […]

Stakeholder Teleconference Invitation – Revised Form I-9

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) invites interested individuals to participate in a stakeholder teleconference on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 at 2:30 p.m. (Eastern). On March 8, 2013, USCIS published a Federal Register notice addressing revisions to Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 and the form’s instructions. The revisions include: Expanding the form to two pages. […]

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 […]