Don’t be surprised if the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agency comes knocking on your company’s door to conduct an inspection. ICE has ramped workplace inspections way up, increasing audits and arrests as part of an effort to find illegal workers and discourage businesses from hiring them, data released by ICE Monday showed.
“I want to see a 400 percent increase in work site operations,” said Tom Homan, deputy director of ICE, at a press conference in Washington D.C., in December. “We’re not just talking about arresting the aliens at these work sites, we are also talking about employers who knowingly hire people who are unauthorized to work.”
So far, Homan is keeping his word. In April, nearly 100 people were arrested by ICE at a Tennessee meat-processing plant, which the National Immigration Law Center said was the largest workplace raid since Donald Trump became president. In January, ICE officers swooped in on nearly 100 7-Eleven stores across the United States in the early morning hours. The agents conducted audits and interviewed workers and managers, resulting in the arrest of 21 people who were suspected of being in the country illegally.
Raids and Audits Rising Sharply
Data released by the agency Monday indicate a dramatic crackdown on employers. Since October, ICE has made 610 administrative arrests related to worksites. In fiscal year 2017, there were 172. ICE opened has 3,510 worksite investigations since October, compared with 1,716 from a year ago. ICE said it has shifted resources “to fill the gap” for the additional workplace investigations. The agency also is conducting audits that often go unseen, said Matt Allen, assistant director of Homeland Security Investigations, which handles worksite-related immigration compliance. .
For internal audit, the hightened number of raids and audits means companies may want to pay closer attention to their hiring practices and how they collect and verify I-9 forms which all employees are required to fill out to document their citizenship status. Under a 1986 federal law, companies must verify their employees are authorized to work in the United States by reviewing their documents and verifying to the government the employees’ identity and work authorization. If employers are found to hire someone without proper documents, the employers may be subject to administrative fines and, in some cases, criminal prosecution.
“We are reminding employers,” Allen said, “that they have a role and responsibility in the process.” 