An employer’s focus on worksite compliance (specifically I-9 compliance) has never been more important than it has become under the new administration. The combination of a substantial increase in the number of I-9 audits and related arrests by U.S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement (ICE), coupled with the doubling of civil penalties assessed, makes this a very credible threat to employers across the United States.
Linked here is a recent Press Release from ICE, dated May 14, in addition to a companion article published in the NY Times the same day.
The information contained in ICE’s Press Release is unprecedented and should serve as a stark warning to U.S. employers — ICE will be engaging in a second wave of ICE audits over this summer, with an overall goal of doubling the number of Notices of Inspection (ICE subpoenas) served on employers from 2,281 year to date to 5,000 by September 30, 2018. You should also note from the links above that employer arrests (through the I-9 audit process) are up 91% year-over-year and administrative (alien) arrests are up 255% over the same period.
ICE also has longer-term plans to increase the number of ICE audits from 5,000 per year to 15,000 inthe coming years.
On that basis, it has never been more important to conduct a self-audit of your Company’s I-9 records as, once a Notice of Inspection issues, it is generally too late.
Learn from the example made of Asplundh Tree Experts, Co., one of the largest privately-held companies in the U.S., in which ICE levied the largest civil settlement in its history of $95 Million for knowingly [engaging in a pattern and practice of] hiring unauthorized employees.
If you have any questions in connection with any of the foregoing, please contact Anthony F. Siliato and Scott R. Malyk of our firm’s Immigration Law Group.
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