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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Justice Department Settles Immigration-Related Discrimination Claim Against Property Management Company

The Justice Department today reached an agreement with a nationwide residential property management firm headquartered in Dallas, resolving claims that the staffing company violated the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). In a charge filed with the department, a lawful permanent resident alleged that after working for Milestone for three years, the […]

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 […]

ICE fines San Diego-area companies for hiring unlawful employees
 worksite enforcement strategy holds employers accountable for violations

As part its enforcement strategy to reduce illegal employment and protect job opportunities for the nation’s lawful workforce, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Tuesday that 10 employers in San Diego and Imperial counties were fined by ICE during fiscal year 2012 for various employment-related violations. Collectively, the fines totalled more than $173,800, with […]