ICE is not backing off sending I-9 audit notices to US employers.  It’s latest  round of 180 NOI’s (Notice of Inspection) were sent to employers March 2nd in 5 Southeastern states:   Louisiana. Alabama, Arkansas Tennessee and Mississippi.  The notices alert business owners that ICE will be inspecting their hiring records to determine whether or not they are complying with employment eligibility verification laws and regulations.

Employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This form requires employers to review and record the individual’s identity document(s) and determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and related to the individual.

Due to the ongoing, law enforcement sensitive nature of these audits, the names and locations of the businesses will not be released at this time.

We link to the Press Release on the ICE website

A strong reminder to employers: Compliance with immigration law is crucial in this enforcement climate. We are in a historic moment regarding U.S. Immigration reform. Major U.S. companies have been slapped with steep fines for non-compliance with immigration laws and contractors have been closed and even jailed for employing illegal immigrants. Now is the time for prudent companies to implement a Corporate Immigration Compliance Program. Our firm’s years of experience and knowledge with employer compliance and worksite enforcement issues can assist your business in offsetting the extent of sanctions and other ICE enforcement threats.  Because of this, employer compliance is becoming more complex and enforcement (investigations and audits) is increasing.

We have a very informative area on our website  relating to this topic.  Please refer to our services and solutions and contact us if you require assistance with I-9 management, audits or training.

Super Express Van Tours of Houston was not your ordinary bus line. It served neither tourists nor commuters. Instead, federal officials say, it specialized in transporting illegal immigrants around the country. Once they arrived from Mexico, it kept the passengers under lock and key in “safe houses” — preventing both scrutiny from outsiders and possible escapes — until it loaded them into minivans and shuttled them to cities across the United States, including Los Angeles, Atlanta and Miami.

Super Express was no stranger to the Border Patrol and other federal authorities — its drivers had been stopped and arrested seven times over five years for transporting illegal immigrants. But the drivers and their human cargo were merely the low-hanging fruit. That’s why it was a welcome development last week when agents arrested the company’s owner, Fermin A. Tovar.  For more

First they were arrested and faced deportation under what has proven to be the Obama administration’s only workplace raid.  Then they were given work permits and told they could stay in the USA while their employer was prosecuted…

Now, the more than 2 dozen undocumented workers arrested during the February raid are again facing deportation.

The deportations and likely removals are a conclusion to a case that displeased both advocates for illegal immigrants and those who lobby for stricter immigration enforcement.

In this case – the company, the workers and even the Seattle US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office that conducted the raid came in for some sort of punishment or special scrutiny

Shortly following the raid, ICE officials traded urgent emails going over Q&A sent by an apparently miffed White House, according to emails obtained by the AP through a federal records request.

In all, 27 workers have been deported; 7 have been allowed to leave the country voluntarily and 15 await court dates with an immigration judge, said ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers.

Read more

[Courtesy of Tracker Corp]    On November 19, 2009, DHS announced issuance of 1,000 additional I-9 Audit notices to employers across the country, focusing in particular on those providing critical infrastructure and other key resources. This is on top of the 654 I-9 audit notices issued earlier this year. Speaking at a workforce symposium in Washington, DC, Assistant Secretary John Morton (of Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE]) reiterated the agency’s commitment to creating a culture of voluntary compliance through aggressive investigations and outreach programs. Assistant Secretary Morton also provided recent statistics, showing the increased level of investigations and fines:

DHS also released statistics from the 654 notices sent in July 2009. The ICE agents identified roughly 14,000 suspect documents, assessed over $2 million in fines, and issued warnings to 326 employers.

We link to the press release announcing these findings.  We link to more details on the locations of the 1,000 companies in the latest round of audits

Cite as “AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 09112060 (posted Nov. 20, 2009)”

Reported in Computerworld

USCIS officials are taking H-1B enforcement from the desk to the field with a plan to conduct 25,000 on-site inspections of companies hiring foreign workers over this fiscal year.

The move marks a nearly five-fold increase in inspections over last fiscal year, when the agency conducted 5,191 site visits under a new site inspection program. The new federal fiscal year began Oct. 1.

Tougher enforcement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services comes in response to a study conducted by the agency last year that found fraud and other violations in one-in-five H-1B applications.

In a letter to U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Alejandro Mayorkas, director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency began a site visit and verification program in July to check on the validity of H-1B applications. Mayorkas’ letter was released on Tuesday by Grassley.

“The inspection program determines] whether the location of employment actually exists and if a beneficiary is employed at the location specified, performing the duties as described, and paid the salary as identified in the petition,” said Mayorkas in his letter to Grassley.

…As part of its enforcement effort, Mayorkas said the Citizenship and Immigration Services has hired Dunn and Bradstreet Inc., which provides credit reports among other services, to act as “an independent information provider” and help verify information submitted by companies hiring H-1B workers.

Links to other related articles:

ICE Asst. Secretary Announces 1,000 New Workplace Audits

Anger up, Visas Down

Tech workers take H-1B case to supreme court

Share your thoughts with us on this.

This is an extremely informative Q&A session between AILA and  USCIS that addresses the following major  topics:

1)  Excessive documentation requests for L-1 RFEs including L-1Bs involving placements at 3rd party sites

2)  H-1B Cap Exempt employers

3)  Right of Counsel for H-1B Site Visits…..and more

To highlight a few USCIS responses:

1) AILA provided examples to USCIS of explaining its RFE requests by providing examples (rather than endless lists of mandatory documents) of how to respond

2)  Re Counting periods of time abroad for L-1 Eligibility:  USCIS stated,  “Contrary to the AFM, precedent decisions and long practice, USCIS now states that only time in the US in L status, rather than any ‘authorized periods of stay in the US for the foreign employer’, does not interrupt the prior year of employment.

3)  Right to Counsel during the course of audits and site visits & training for Investigative Officers:

a.  “USCIS is in the process of amending several forms (Form I-129 instructions) and receipt notices to advise that USCIS may conduct compliance site inspections at any time pre or post adjusication.  There are currently no plans to provide advance notice of a site inspection conducted under the ASVVP”.

b.  Advance notice is provided by FDNS officers when conducting site visits/administrative inquiries on cases containing elements of suspeced fraud unless the officer believes that advance notice would jeopardize or hamper the site visit.  FDNS officers also provide notice to attorneys of record when conducting site visits under the Benefit Fraud Assessment and Compliance Program.

c.  Are petitioners/beneficiaries informed of their right to call their attorney and have the attorney present before questioning commences?  “Participation in an ASVVP compliance site inspection/any USCIS site visit, is volunary”.

d.  “A petitioner/beneficiary/other persons will be allowed to contact their counsel if they are immediately available (in person or by phone), however, such contact should not unduly delay the process or entail unusual accommodations in which case the site inspection or site visit may be terminated”.

e.  Site visits will not be rescheduled if an attorney cannot be present.  If the employer’s attorney is not available, the Inspector will note this in their report.  The report will be reviewed for follow-up action, if appropriate.

4)  Site Visit Officer Training:  “Training is provided to site inspectors and immigration officers during their basic training after their entry on duty.  The inspectors collect and report information which is then analyzed by immigration officers who do have appropriate immigration law training.”

Other topics in this report covered termination of empoyment authorization documents, I-130 denials that are appealed, Civil Surgeons training and monitoring, etc.   Well worth the read through.

We link to the Q&A document