How to Respond When ICE Offers to Help

Maria del Carmen Ramos
Maria del Carmen Ramos

When someone approaches you in a friendly manner, you want to oblige. When someone smiles, your natural inclination is to smile back. So it’s no wonder that an employer may not understand the danger posed when a friendly Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) auditor shows up at the workplace to help the employer understand its recordkeeping obligations and ensure the employer is doing its paperwork properly, even promising to do so in a timely manner so as not to disrupt the employer’s business. Continue reading “How to Respond When ICE Offers to Help”

The I-9 Squeeze: What Happens When An Employer Migrates to a Completely Electronic System?

Maria del Carmen Ramos
Maria del Carmen Ramos

It’s been almost four years since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) finalized the regulations for electronically generating and/or storing Form I-9 records. Since that time, more and more employers have migrated to electronic I-9 systems for a variety of reasons—as a way of reducing paperwork violations, managing their I-9 programs, and/or integrating E-verify. Continue reading “The I-9 Squeeze: What Happens When An Employer Migrates to a Completely Electronic System?”

The Rules of the Game Change As ICE Targets Employers

Maria del Carmen Ramos
Maria del Carmen Ramos

The year 2009 marked a dramatic change in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) workforce enforcement strategy. Up until 2008, ICE focused its enforcement efforts almost exclusively on illegal workers. For instance, ICE made 6,000 workforce enforcement strategy-related arrests in 2008; only 135 of them involved employers. Starting in 2009, however, ICE shifted its focus from illegal workers to employers who knowingly hired unauthorized workers. As part of its strategy of targeting employers, ICE began setting up centers around the country that are fully dedicated to I-9 audit work. Continue reading “The Rules of the Game Change As ICE Targets Employers”