1. Filling out the I-9 Form
2. Reviewing the Sections of the Form
3. Re-verifying and Updating information

1)         You’ve had a turnover in the HR position(s) charged with the responsibility of handling and processing I-9 Forms

2)         None of the staff charged with the I-9 process has been formally trained

3)         You already know that you have I-9 document violations, errors and unintentional mistakes

4)         You have recently gone through a corporate reorganization, merger or acquisition

5)         You know you have an on-boarding process that is complex, such as multiple jobsite locations where the I-9 process takes place

6)         When you haven’t documented your I-9 Form policies and procedures in a policy statement or procedures manual

7)         If you have a large volume of foreign worker I-9 forms

8)         If you do not have a tickler system for re-verification or  terminated employee retention

9)         If you do not have  a centralized I-9 recordkeeping process

10)       If you are photocopying documents presented during the I-9 process for some and not for others

11)       You participate in government contracts and have been asked to perform an I-9 audit

12)      You’ve never performed a self-audit or had any outside provider perform an I-9 audit

13)      You do not know how to make corrections to the I-9 form

14)      You’ve received SSA No Match Letters

15)      Your industry is being targeted by ICE

16)      You don’t know that new I-9 guidance was released by USCIS this year

Immigration Solutions regularly represents clients from all industries to develop effective I-9 policies and compliance programs.  By establishing and maintaining effective corporate policies and procedures, many of the above-mentioned warning signs can be addressed proactively in an audit before the government does one for you.

Our complete and informational Employer Resource Center on all things I-9, can be found here.

Please take a minute to take our I-9 Survey on our website.

The employer will receive a SSA TNC when the:

1. Name, SS# or date of birth is incorrect in SSA records
2. Name change was not reported to SSA
3. Citizenship or immigration status was not updated with SSA
4. SS record contains another type of error

The employer will receive a DHS TNC when the:

1. Name, A# and/or I-94 number are incorrect in DHS records
2. Information was not updated in the employee’s DHS records
3. Citizenship or immigration status changed
4. Record contains another type of error
5. ID photograph differs from the photograph in DHS records

• The employer informs the employee and prints and reviews the TNC
• The employee chooses to “contest” or “not contest” the TNC
• Refer the employee to the appropriate agency if the TNC is contested
• The employee has 8 Federal Government workdays from the date of referral to visit or call the appropriate agency to resolve the discrepancy.
• Employee continues to work while the case is being resolved
• Once resolved, they should inform the employer
• With both a SSA TNC and a DHS TNC, a response is electronically sent to the employer through the system.  The employer should check E-Verify periodically for the response

TNC Case Resolution

• The employer will receive one of three results:

Employment Authorized |  Final Non-confirmation  |  Review/Update Employee Data then Resubmit

At least two dozen employees were arrested March 4th after deputies raided four Pei Wei restaurants and its corporate headquarters in Scottsdale.  Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio had warrants for 120 employees who were suspected of identity theft.

Just how bad can it get?  Unfortunately pretty bad.  At the corporate headquarters, boxes of documents and computer databases were seized.  Arpaio said the investigation began in June 2010 after the sheriff’s office received a tip that several employees were illegal immigrants.  The investigation showed that most of the victims whose identities may have been stolen live out of state; eight of them are children under the age of 12 and four of them are dead.

Arpaio stated, “That’s one thing that makes this operation unusual. People apparently are fed up with the ID theft problem and the problems ID theft causes and are willing to help law enforcement to ensure the successful prosecution of this kind of crime.”

Pei Wei Asian Diners are operated by publicly held P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Inc   P.F. Chang’s operates about 170 Pei Wei locations nationwide and more than 200 P.F. Chang’s China Bistros.

It is estimated that a Pei Wei restaurant can generate up to $2 mil/year in sales.  The prolonged closure of a number of locations is costing the company a significant amount of money and the media coverage is tremendously damaging including a loss of prestige and community standing.

The case at hand teaches a lesson about the E-Verify program, in that using E-Verify doesn’t insulate an employer against penalties and doesn’t provide a safe harbor against worksite enforcement. This is a wake-up call to anyone who thinks E-Verify is an effective remedy to stop identity fraud.  E-Verify doesn’t have the proper protections and safeguards in place for detecting it.

Secondly, if you own and operate a chain of restaurants, it’s time to be proactive and get your I-9’s in order and secure the services of a 3^rd party audit team who are skilled in handling employer compliance issues.  You must carefully review your systems and procedures around I-9 processing and management at all of your locations, particularly if you are a multi-site employer – including corporate headquarters.

For more on this story.

One of Mississippi’s most successful and largest private employers pled guilty in federal court last week to knowingly violating federal criminal conspiracy laws in its employment of illegal aliens at the company’s electrical transformer plant in Laurel, MS following an investigation by ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).  The company agreed to pay a $2.5 million fine, which is larger than normal for such a conviction, the U.S. Justice Department said in a news release.

Immigration agents detained more than 600 illegal immigrants at Howard Industries’ electrical transformer plant during a massive raid on Aug. 25, 2008. Those detained in the raid came from countries including Brazil, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Peru, and most of them were deported, though a few were convicted on identity theft charges for using fraudulent documents and providing fake papers to other workers.

The company said in a statement that it was pleased to resolve the investigation “based on the actions of its former human resources manager Jose Humberto Gonzalez.”  Gonzalez is the only company executive who has been charged in the case. He pled guilty in December 2009 to conspiracy and admitted that he hired hundreds of people who he knew were in the country illegally.  

The company had repeatedly denied allegations that it had knowingly hired individuals without work authorization, putting all of the blame on its HR manager, Jose Humberto Gonzalez, who was charged in a 25-count indictment with conspiracy and employee verification fraud.   He faces a maximum of 5 years of imprisonment on the conspiracy charge and on each employee verification fraud count. He also faces a minimum of 2 years imprisonment for the aggravated identity theft charge and possible fines up to $250,000.

Howard Industries was charged with knowingly and willfully conspiring to encourage and induce undocumented workers to reside in the US, and knowingly conspiring to conceal, harbor and shield from detection such workers.  As it turned out, Howard Industries waived indictment and agreed to plead guilty to the one-count felony of  conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the United States which calls for a term of not less than one and not more than 5 years of probation and a fine of up to $500,000. However, this fine was substantially enhanced to $2.5 million due to the nature of the crime (harboring), the number of workers involved (100 or more), and the size of the company.

Apparently Gonzalez would routinely hire unauthorized workers who presented false identity documents, including green-cards and Social Security cards, and then would complete the I-9 with the fake information.  Gonzalez was also accused of submitting SSNs to the Social Security Administration to verify their numbers and then disregarding the results if they came back as invalid.

E-Verify doesn’t protect against identify fraud: Howard Industries was using E-Verify and ran every applicant through the system, but E-Verify doesn’t detect identify fraud and shouldn’t be used as a substitute for I-9 compliance.  The case at hand teaches a lesson about the E-Verify program, in that using E-Verify doesn’t insulate an employer against penalties and doesn’t provide a safe harbor against worksite enforcement.

So what’s an employer to do?

If you are contemplating ‘going electronic’, whether that be an electronic I-9 system or enrolling in the E-Verify program, it is imperative that you find out what condition your I-9’s are in.  This is done by having a qualified immigration attorney that specializes in compliance issues perform either a partial or full audit on your I-9’s so that the reoccurring errors and violations buried in your paperwork can be identified, corrected, and your staff properly trained.  We additionally encourage our clients to work with us in establishing policies and guidelines as to how they want to process and manage the I-9 function at their organization and document this, and make sure that everyone involved with the process is trained and fully understands your internal policies.

We link to the ICE press release

For more information on our employer compliance services and solutions

For those of you who might rather listen to our news than read it, we are releasing a podcast of a previous Blog post on the topic of the I-9 Revised Employer Handbook that was released by USCIS last month that provides additional guidance on many of the most frequently asked questions that we see in our employer compliance practice.  Have a listen and please take our Survey.   For a list of our compliance services and solutions we link here.

Last week the House subcommittee on immigration policy and enforcement held their first hearing on “ICE Worksite Enforcement – Up to the Job?” The major agenda item was whether or not Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was adequately enforcing worksite immigration laws.  The Republican members called upon ;their usual sources to diminish the Obama administration’s enforcement efforts, even though Deputy Director of ICE, Kumar Kibble stated quite clearly that ICE has achieved record numbers of investigations, audits, fines, and deportations by citing the below  statistics.  Frankly, after listening to the majority members, one can’t help but wonder if any amount of enforcement would be sufficient to meet their expectations.

Under the Obama administration, ICE has moved  away from raids, and stepped  up the pace of auditing businesses who may be suspect to employing undocumented workers.  However, the emphasis today is more on employers who hire immigrants and not just arresting undocumented immigrants who are working in the factories, the hotels, restaurants and construction businesses.  The vehicle being used to police the workforce is the auditing of I-9 forms,  levying fines and utilizing employer verification tools such as E-Verify and the Ice Mutual Agreement Between the Government and Employers Program.

The Deputy Director cited the following statistics as evidence of the success of ICE’s worksite enforcement: for FY 2010:

• A record 2,746 worksite enforcement investigations, more than doubling the 1,191 cases initiated in FY 2008.
• ICE criminally arrested 196 employers for worksite related violation, surpassing the previous high of 135 in FY 2008.
• ICE also issued a record 2,196 notices of inspection to employers, surpassing the prior year’s record of 1,444 and more than quadrupling the 503 inspections in 2008.
• ICE issued 237 final orders – documents requiring employers to cease violation the law and directing them to pay fines – totaling $6,956,026, compared to the 18 issued for $675,209 in FY 2008.
• The total of $6,956,026 last year represents the most final orders issued since the creation of ICE in 2003.
• In addition worksite investigations resulted in a record $36,611,320 in judicial fines, forfeitures, and restitutions.
• Finally ice brought a new level of integrity to the contracting process by debarring a record 97 businesses and 49 individuals preventing unscrupulous companies from engaging in future business with the government.

The glaring facts that came out of the hearing are that no matter whether it’s worksite raids or company audits with deportations of undocumented aliens, the current state of how foreign born workers are processed into the country is no longer working.  The conversation that we all should be having is the comprehensive reform of how workers are brought into the USA.  We can only hope that the GOP and the Democrats can have civil and reasonable debate that results in meaningful change.  Let’s see what happens.

USCIS released a revised January 5, 2011 version of the I-9 Employer Handbook today.  Our office received an emailed  Press Release from USCIS Director Alejandro N. Mayorkas announcing the release of the Handbook that is published in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security partners. Director Mayorkas states:

“By law, U.S. employers must verify the identity and employment authorization for every worker they hire after November 6, 1986, regardless of the employee’s immigration status. To comply with the law, employers must complete Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The Handbook for Employers is a guide for employers in the Form I-9 process.

It has been revised and updated with new information about applicable regulations, including new regulations about electronic storage and retention of Forms I-9; it clarifies how to process an employee with a complicated immigration status; and, it addresses public comments and frequently asked questions. We thank the many stakeholders who have provided comments on the Form I-9 process and the Handbook since the Handbook was last revised (Rev. 7/31/2009).

Some of the many improvements, new sections, and tools included in The Handbook for Employers are:

• New visual aids for completing Form I-9
• Examples of new relevant USCIS documents
• Expanded guidance on lawful permanent residents, refugees and asylees, individuals in Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and exchange visitors and foreign students
• Expanded guidance on the processing of employees in or porting to H1-B status and H2-A status; and
• Expanded guidance on extensions of stay for employees with temporary employment authorization.

The Handbook for Employers now also includes information for employers in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) who must verify their employees’ employment authorization on Form I-9 CNMI. It also highlights information about documents CNMI employers may accept from their employees.

We are pleased to release this revised and updated handbook. We are hopeful it will serve as a useful guide for employers complying with the Form I-9 process.”

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Should you have questions following the reading and review of the new Handbook, please contact our compliance team at Immigration Solutions.  Should you require compliance services and solutions, our talented team is ready to assist you.

Further to our series on site visits for the purposes of administrative, benefit and compliance reviews – we’ll look closer at FDNS areas of oversight…

What does FDNS Do?

FDNS officers resolve background check information and other concerns that surface during the processing of immigration benefit applications and petitions.  Resolution often requires communication with law enforcement or intelligence agencies to make sure that the information is relevant to the applicant or petitioner at hand and, if so, whether the information would have an impact on eligibility for the benefit.  

FDNS officers also perform checks of USCIS databases and public information, as well as other administrative inquiries, to verify information provided on, and in support of, applications and petitions.  Administrative inquiries may include:

•  Performance of fraud assessments – FDNS officers engage in fraud assessments (including Benefit Fraud and Compliance Assessments) to determine the types and volumes of fraud in certain immigration benefits programs;
• Compliance Reviews – Systematic reviews of certain types of applications or petitions to ensure the integrity of the immigration benefits system, and
• Targeted site visits – Inquiries conducted in cases where fraud is suspected.

FDNS uses the Fraud Detection and National Security Data System (FDNS-DS) to identify fraud and track potential patterns. 

USCIS has formed a partnership with ICE, in which FDNS pursues administrative inquiries into most application and petition fraud, while ICE conducts criminal investigations into major fraud conspiracies. 

Additional FDNS Functions

FDNS also conducts Benefit Fraud and Compliance Assessments to identify the types and volumes of fraud and develop mitigation strategies to deter and disrupt fraud.

What is the ASVVP and what does it do?

In July 2009, FDNS implemented the Administrative Site Visit and Verification Program (ASVVP) to conduct unannounced site inspections to verify information contained in certain visa petitions.  USCIS provides petitioners and their representatives of record (if any) an opportunity to review and address the information before denying or revoking an approved petition based on information obtained during a site inspection.

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Immigration Solutions always welcomes your feedback.  If you are interested in becoming a client of our office, please contact us at 562 612.3996 and request a consultation. We handle a broad range of business related immigration matters and have an active employer compliance practice, consulting on proper I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) best practices, auditing, training, and guiding our clients in achieving compliant immigration policies and procedures.  

Visit our new I-9 Employer Resource center here