Immigration Customs & Enforcement (ICE) has announced that it will audit the hiring records of 1,000 employers across the country.

“Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources”

The audits come in the form of a Notice of Inspection (NOI) that includes everything from I-9s to payroll records to info on independent contractors to copies of immigration filings. According to ICE, “the inspections will touch on employers of all sizes and in every state in the nation, with an emphasis on businesses related to critical infrastructure and key resources.” Targeted industries include those involving food, water, transportation, shipping, power and others.

Fraud Detection Unit

In addition, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is increasing its audits of immigration abuses. Such audits are usually unannounced and focus on H-1B visas.

What Should Employers Do?

Now is not the time for shoddy I-9 or visa practices. Here’s what we suggest:

• Follow the law — ensure that all I-9s, visas and supporting documentation are properly filled out and maintained.
• Don’t wait for ICE or any other government agency — audit yourself and take corrective action on any incomplete or defective I-9s in line with ICE and EEOC guidelines.
• If you are a target of the audit — contact your favorite employment lawyer immediately. Cooperate with the investigation. Resist the temptation to tamper with or destroy any documents. Keep copies of everything you submit to ICE.

Want More?

For more, visit ICE’s official site here and here for our handy Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) Cheat Sheet.

Late last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an Arizona law that (1) can put employers out of business for hiring unauthorized workers and (2) mandates the use of E-Verify.

The Basics

In Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. Whiting, the Court ruled 5-3 that federal law does not preempt the Legal Arizona Workers Act because it is primarily a licensing statute. The law empowers the state to suspend or revoke the business license of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. ”Congress expressly preserved the ability of the states to impose their own sanctions through licensing,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote in the Court’s decision.

The Court also found that the state’s mandated use of the  E-Verify electronic employment verification system did not conflict with any aspect of federal law.

The Reactions

Several rather disparate groups banded together to oppose the law, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, civil-rights organizations and even the White House — to no avail.

The Chamber warned that the Court’s decision will open the door for other states to enact similarly stringent laws. “The growing patchwork of state and local immigration laws is a serious obstacle to doing business across state lines,” said Robin Conrad, a lawyer representing the Chamber.

The Chamber is calling for Congress to ban state immigration laws as part of a broader overhaul of federal immigration law.

Reality Check

At this point, the law appears to be more bark than bite. Since its controversial passage in 2007, only three businesses have faced charges under the law. While raids have led to the arrest of hundreds of workers, the government is finding to difficult to meet the “knowingly” test under the law.

The Bottom Line

No matter what state you operate in, now is not the time to violate immigration laws. Governments at all levels are devoting unprecedented resources to seeking out potential violators. Carefully and completely fill out all I-9s and always always always follow the law.

The Department of Homeland Security announced that it wall launch a new E-Verify Self Check Program on March 18.

The program is designed to “provide a vehicle for an individual to proactively check work authorization status prior to the employer conducting the E-Verify inquiry.” Previously, only employers had access to the system.

This means that individuals can now identify and correct errors on their own before applying for a position. That should help both candidates and employers avoid needless delays.

For DHS’ official announcement, click here.

U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced that the H-1B cap has been hit for this fiscal year.

What’s the cap?

The H-1B cap is 58,200, plus 6,800 H-1B1 visas set aside for citizens of Chile and Singapore that aren’t used during the prior fiscal year. For fiscal year 2011, 6,350 unused H-1B1s were added to the total, bringing it to 64,550.

Are there any exceptions?

20,000 H-1Bs for foreign nationals with U.S.-earned master’s or higher degrees are exempted from the cap each year. Various other H-1Bs are exempt, meaning that employers can file petitions at any time and aren’t limited to any particular employment start date. Excluded petitions include those to:

• extend a current H-1B worker’s period of stay
• change a current H-1B worker’s terms of employment
• allow a current H-1B worker to work concurrently under a new H-1B for another employer
• allow a current H-1B worker to change employers (unless the change is from a cap-exempt to a cap-subject employer)
• request new employment at a non-profit or governmental research organization or an institution of higher education or related/affiliated non-profit entity

When’s the next filing period?

USCIS’ fiscal year ends September 30. Since H-1B petitions can be filed six months before the start date, USCIS will begin accepting new H-1B petitions April 1.

(Special thanks to the fine folks at McGuire Woods for bringing this to my attention)

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it will soon start issuing redesigned “green cards” (official name: Permanent Residence Cards).

Here’s the most exciting part: the new green cards will actually be green. For more than 30 years, green cards have been beige-ish in color. They will also have new security features, including the ability to store biometric data and other facets designed to deter fraudulent reproduction.

Existing non-green green cards will be valid for the time period indicated on the card. New ones will be issued as the old ones expire.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced yesterday here that it is issuing Notices of Investigation (NOIs) to 1,000 employers across the nation.

What Does This Mean?

The NOIs alert employers that ICE will audit their hiring records to determine compliance with employment eligibility requirements, including I-9s. According to ICE, the 1,000 employers were selected based on “investigative leads and intelligence” and whether they are in some way linked to “public safety and national security.”

“ICE is focused on finding and penalizing employers who believe they can unfairly get ahead by cultivating illegal workplaces,” said ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton. “We are increasing criminal and civil enforcement of immigration-related employment laws and imposing smart, tough employer sanctions to even the playing field for employers who play by the rules.”

Enforcement Statistics

In April, ICE announced a new, more aggressive enforcement strategy, with audits as the focal point. Here are some rather sobering statistics regarding ICE activity since then:

• 45 businesses and 47 individuals have been debarred (compared to 0 businesses and 1 individual the previous year);
• 142 Notices of Intent to Fine (NIF) have been issued totaling $15,865,181 (more than quadruple the number of NIFs the prior year);
• 45 Final Orders have been issued totaling $798,179; (more than quadruple the prior year); and
• 1,897 cases have been initiated (more than triple the prior year).

In July, ICE issued 654 NOIs to businesses nationwide in its largest sweep prior to this new effort. Here are some statistics related to those NOIs:

• ICE agents reviewed more than 85,000 I-9s and found more than 14,000 suspect documents — roughly 16 percent of the documents reviewed.
• 61 NIFs have been issued, resulting in $2,310,255 in fines. An additional 267 cases are currently being considered for NIFs.

What Should Employers Do?

• Follow the law — ensure that all I-9s and supporting documentation are properly filled out and maintained.
• Don’t wait for ICE — audit yourself and take corrective action on any incomplete or defective I-9s in line with ICE and EEOC guidelines.
• If you get a notice — respond promptly (or seek an extension if you need one). Refrain from tampering with any documents. Keep copies of everything you submit to ICE.

Want More?

For more, visit ICE’s official site here or click here for our handy Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) Cheat Sheet.

This week, I’m in fabulous Orlando, Florida, attending the American Staffing Association’s annual Staffing World Convention and Expo.

A huge focus of ASA’s work is staying on top of all the developments in the wonderful world of workplace law. Here’s the latest on where some key things stand:

General Forecast

The focus on the legislative front right now is pretty simple: health care, health care, health care. Virtually everything else is on the back burner.

It’s anticipated that the health care debate will take up most of the rest of this congressional session. That means that many of the initiatives favored by the Administration may be pushed off to 2010. With 2010 being an election year, the next twelve months will undoubtedly be action-packed. Whether the Administration’s initiatives make it through will depend in large part on how much political capital the President and his fellow Democrats have remaining after the health care issue is settled.

Health Care

Five proposals are now floating around — three in the House and two in the Senate. The one generating the most buzz is the Senate Finance Committee bill.

As it stands, that bill contains an “employer mandate” that would require employers who have more than 50 full-time employees and don’t provide health insurance to pay a fee for each full-time employee. The amount of the fee and what exactly constitutes a “full-time employee” (currently defined in the bill as all employees who work more than 30 hours per week on average) will undoubtedly be the subject of much debate in coming weeks.

Most experts agree that there is a better than 50% chance that some form of health care legislation will eventually be passed. However, almost no one agrees on when it will pass and what exactly it will contain.

EFCA

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is still very much alive. It’s just on hold while everyone focuses on health care.

EFCA’s backers appear to have given up on the “card check” provision, but it still contains the “quickie” election and mandatory fast-track arbitration provisions that make the business community very nervous.

There’s some concern that Democrats could try to move on a compromise bill some time before the close of the session. As such, the U.S. Chamber and other business groups — all of which remain staunchly opposed to any form of compromise — are warning against apathy and overconfidence.

Immigration Reform

The President has publicly stated that he will introduce immigration reform legislation this year. Again, given the health care focus, that may not be achievable. Most experts agree that even if immigration legislation is introduced, it’s a long shot that there will be any significant action on it this year.

Paid Sick Leave

Paid sick leave is basically in the same spot as immigration reform.

NLRB

Another area that makes the employer community nervous is the power of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to reverse key Bush-era decisions. Click here for everything you could possibly want to know on that subject.

Stay tuned to see how this all plays out . . .

As discussed previously here on the Blawg, the E-Verify employment authorization system will be mandatory for federal contractors, beginning September 8.

A court ruling yesterday cleared the final potential hurdle in E-Verify’s way. Click here for more.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for doughnuts . . .

First, there was the “DOUGHNUTS = DEATH” campaign we reported on here. Now, a doughnut company has been hit with more than $1.5 million in penalties and criminal sanctions for hiring undocumented workers.

Shipley Do-Nut Flour and Supply Company was sentenced to three years of court supervision, as well as forfeiture of more than $1.3 million and a criminal fine of $250,000. Several of the company’s managers pled guilty and were sentenced to probation and thousands of dollars in fines.

The charges arose out of a 2008 ICE investigation that focused on I-9 compliance. ICE arrested more than two dozen workers employed by the company.

“ICE will hold employers and business accountable and will hit those who knowingly break the law where it hurts — the bottom line,” said ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton.

For more on ICE, I-9s and how to avoid a similar fate, click here and here.

Recently, Homeland Security announced that all federal contractors will be required to use E-Verify effective September 8. Many are wondering if the government will soon make it mandatory for all employers.

Should you use E-Verify? How do those who use it feel about it? We thought we’d turn those questions over to the experts — you.

What is E-Verify?

E-Verify is an electronic employment eligibility verification system designed to deter employers from hiring illegal immigrants. We use it here at Manpower and find it to be quite consistent and speedy.

Who uses E-Verify? Does it work?

We asked 1,822 HR professionals and business owners for their thoughts on this subject. Here’s what they said . . .

Do you use E-Verify?

• Yes: 33%
• No: 67%

If you use E-Verify, how would you rate it in terms of quality, consistency and speed?

• Excellent: 10%
• Very Good: 50%
• Good: 32%
• Fair: 6%
• Poor: 1%

So, roughly a third of those surveyed utilize E-Verify, even though it’s not required yet. And those who use the system rate it quite highly, with a whopping 92% rating it “Good” or better and only 1% rating it “Poor.”

Will E-Verify soon be mandatory for all employers?

Some in Congress appear to be pushing for that very thing. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), head of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, is calling for a system to verify the employment eligibility of all employees.

Stay tuned to see how this plays out. Click here for more on E-Verify and here and here for other recent immigration news.