Employers need to be aware ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is preparing to issue another round of Inspection Notices to businesses, demanding Forms I-9 and other employment eligibility documents. ICE is planning more worksite inspections in the last quarter of this year. To 
be able to accomplish this, ICE has added more agents and auditors, and is centralizing its auditing process. All of this adds up to the only logical conclusion, worksite audits are here to stay and employers must take notice.
If you think your business is immune from this process, think again. No business is exempt from a Forms I-9 audit and most employers who are inspected are caught totally off guard and unprepared.
When auditing an employer’s I-9 forms, ICE agents regularly find at least ½ of all forms reviewed have some kind of error. Each error can result in civil penalties with fine amounts ranging from $110-$1100 per occurrence.
On August 12, ICE released a report detailing enforcement efforts in Arizona during 2010. Among other statistics, the report included information about worksite enforcement in Arizona:
“ICE audited 59 Arizona businesses, resulting in the inspection of 21,587 Forms I-9. Of the 21,587 Forms I-9 inspected, agents determined that 2,177 employees presented “Suspect Documents.” 25 businesses were served a Warning Notice and 23 were served a Notice of Compliance based on the results of the Form I-9 audits. ICE is currently preparing several Notices of Intent to Fine for other business audited in FY10. In FY 09, ICE fined six Arizona companies with fine notices totaling more than $270,000.”
How Can an Employer Protect Their Business?
Take the Arizona statistics seriously!
1. Be proactive.
2. Review and correct your I-9s before ICE does.
3. Take additional steps and implement best practices, procedures and trainings to improve compliance.
4. Consider utilizing electronic I-9 completion and storage solutions to establish a good faith defense.
5. Get help from an expert to be sure you are acting appropriately and not violating anti-discrimination provisions.
Now is the time to implement best practices. ICE has promised and is delivering increased enforcement activity. All employers have had fair warning!
Failure to address Forms I-9 compliance is asking for trouble and gambling with your company’s future.
Is Your Company Prepared?
The sad truth is most U.S. employers are ignoring the threat of immigration audits. When it comes to Form I-9 compliance, E-Verify, and state laws, many corporate officers are taking a “head in the sand” approach or are willing to “roll the dice” and bet their business will not be a target of an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) investigation. This denial can be a very costly mistake.
ICE has promised to take a more aggressive approach to enforcement and they are delivering! A few examples of this new Form I-9 enforcement strategy include reports in The Houston Chronicle about Texas employers who have been fined more than $600,000 since the fall of 2009 for I-9 violations. One employer was fined $34,000 for failure to complete any Forms I-9. Other Texas employers were accused of more serious issues of knowingly hiring unauthorized workers.
The New Jersey Record reports that more than 2 dozen businesses face fines totaling roughly $1.25 million after ICE investigations revealed Form I-9 errors. This beefed up enforcement is taking place across the country in businesses just like yours. No company is immune. All businesses are fair game for an ICE inspection.
Costly non-compliance fines could devastate your company. Being prepared for an ICE inspection before immigration agents serve your business with a Notice of Inspection is essential. Compliance is not just a simple matter of having I-9 forms for all employees. Form I-9 compliance involves a comprehensive corporate compliance plan including written protocols, regularly scheduled Form I-9 compliance audits, as well as defined best practices. Immigration compliance involves strategic planning and laser focus.
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. “Failing” an I-9 inspection is a costly lesson to learn, one that could bankrupt your business and ruin your company’s reputation.
A few weeks ago, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) circulated an internal memo outlining their continued commitment to worksite enforcement by inspecting employers’ Form I-9 compliance. This week, they are making good on their promise by once again issuing Notices of Inspection to businesses across the country. So I guess the question you need to ask yourself is “Do you feel lucky – really lucky”?
Unfortunately, a “head in the sand” approach is what many businesses are taking toward Form I-9 compliance. They figure they will never be the target of an ICE inspection…so why invest the time and money to become 100% compliant? The short answer is simple – because IT’S THE LAW. For the same reasons a business hires a professional to service and maintain equipment, consults with an agent to carry adequate insurance, and relies on a CPA to make sure it is paying the appropriate taxes, the savvy business will utilize an expert who specializes in Employment Eligibility Verification to ensure proper Form I-9 compliance.
The Dreaded ICE Inspection
So what happens when a company that has failed to take a proactive approach to I-9 compliance is inspected by ICE? Once a company has been selected for an I-9 audit, an ICE officer visits the business and serves a Notice of Inspection ordering the company to produce all of their current employees’ I-9 Forms, payroll records, business license, and other documents. ICE will also ask for all Form I-9s for employees terminated over the past 3 years. The company is given 3 business days to send all of the requested information to the ICE forensic auditor.
At the completion of the forensic audit, ICE issues a Notice of Technical Violation to the company and by law must allow the employer 10 business days to repair the I-9 Forms and resubmit. An astute employer will work with a Form I-9 specialist to be certain the forms are repaired appropriately, saving the company thousands of dollars in civil penalties associated with technical violations. Working with an expert during this part of the audit will not only save the company thousands of dollars, it may also help the business prove “good faith” in attempting to comply with Form I-9 requirements in the future.
Form I-9 Compliance – Take Action Today
We encourage employers to take a proactive approach to Form I-9 compliance. Taking the time to assess compliance before ICE visits will save an employer thousands of dollars in fines, the public relations nightmare associated with bad press from an immigration audit, and the stress of going through the cumbersome I-9 audit process.
Most employers are not aware that several days ago Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, sent a copy of its Strategic Priorities for Fiscal Years 2010-2014 to its employees. The memo has not been made public, but you can read it here - ICE Strategic Plan.
The ICE Strategic Plan outlines the priorities on 3 very important efforts:
1) Preventing terrorism and enhancing security
2) Securing and managing our borders
3) Enforcing and administering our immigration laws.
As part of the goal of enforcing our current immigration laws, ICE promises to enforce immigration related employment laws in order to create a culture of compliance among employers.
The strategy is a 2-pronged approach. It includes aggressive criminal and civil penalties against employers who knowingly violate immigration laws, and continues to implement programs such as E-Verify (verifies employment eligibility to work in the United States) and IMAGE.
ICE is also promising to hire additional auditors to focus on employer’s Form I-9 compliance. Based on government audits, ICE has collected over $15,000,000 in fines from employers, many who have never knowingly hired an illegal worker and made only clerical mistakes while completing the Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.
It is important for every employer to understand that government enforcement of Form I-9 regulations is not going away anytime soon. Developing best practices, learning about 3rd party Form I-9 audits and seeking qualified advice concerning I-9 compliance is imperative in this new era of enforcement.
Don’t let your company be the next to suffer large fines resulting from an ICE inspection. It could bankrupt your business!
A few weeks ago, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) publicly announced it issued 180 Notices of Inspection to businesses in 5 southern states. In the summer of 2009, ICE announced it issued over 650 Notices of Inspection to businesses across the country. Some people said, “It’s about time”. Other businesses said, “They won’t visit us”. Still others recognized it for what it is…the beginning of a new strategy by ICE to hold employers accountable for the long standing law that requires identity AND work eligibility verification for the people they hire.
So, how does ICE decide which employer it will visit and demand to inspect all I-9 Forms and payroll records? ICE has a pattern of investigating industries with a history of hiring immigrant workers such as agriculture, construction, landscaping, restaurants, and other hospitality businesses. But it doesn’t mean just because your business is not in one of those categories that ICE won’t visit you next.
Many, many times, ICE acts on the basis of a tip from a “concerned citizen”. I’m sure many of you have “concerned citizens” as employees, customers, or competitors. Some ICE raids are the result of a tip form a disgruntled employee, unhappy customer, or mean-spirited competitor.
By whatever method ICE is tipped off, the results are the same – a worksite inspection of I-9 Forms that will most likely end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars in fines and penalties. It will also cost your business many hours of lost productivity for HR employees and company executives dealing with the demands of the inspection, not to mention it is a public relations nightmare.
My advice – take the time now to get your company’s I-9 compliance processes in place. This is a very complex matter and too many employers are trying to navigate it without the proper advisors. If you won’t do your own corporate tax return or write your employee’s insurance policy without expert advice, why would you do your I-9 Forms without seeking expert advice? It’s not worth the risk. Get the right advice and make a commitment to bring your organization into 100% compliance with employment eligibility verification requirements.
I-9 Okay is a team of dedicated professionals who are experts in I-9 compliance. We can help you achieve 100% compliance and protect your business from financial disaster if you are the target of an ICE worksite inspection.
Form I-9 Enforcement, I-9 Compliance, ICE Inspections | admin | 
August 23, 2010 3:15 pm | 
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