U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement To Issue 652 Notices of Inspections: What To Do If You Get One

On July 1, 2009, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

announced that in an unprecedented operation, more than 652

businesses nationwide will be issued Notices of Inspection (NOIs),

which is more than the agency issued for the entire previous fiscal

year.

The ICE press release seems to reflect an initiative by

ICE to step up stricter enforcement of employment and immigration

laws to prevent illegal hiring of immigrants and to help protect

jobs for the U.S. work force.

If your business is issued an NOI, the most effective response

is to conduct an internal audit or hire an outside firm to do so as

soon as possible. However, you should immediately contact your

employment or immigration law counsel before taking any further

action. You need not wait until your receive an NOI to conduct an

internal audit, as noted in this advisory.

An internal audit will help uncover and correct omissions or

oversights on I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification forms and

bring your company in compliance with the Immigration Reform and

Control Act (IRCA). In correcting an I-9 form, all missing

information should be conspicuously inserted, initialed and dated

contemporaneously with its addition.

While mistakes, oversights and omissions discovered on an I-9

form cannot be retroactively corrected, future violations may be

prevented by taking corrective actions now and implementing

enhanced I-9 completion policies internally. Such actions may also

show a good-faith effort to correct oversights and comply with the

law.

Following are a few points to keep in mind and help guide you in

ensuring compliance with IRCA.

Practical tips to avoid I-9 compliance problems

New I-9 form must now be used. The newly

revised I-9 form went into effect on April 3, 2009. The I-9 form

with the revision date of Feb. 2, 2009, (Rev. 02/02/09) printed on

the lower righthand corner of the form must now be used for all

newly hired employees.

I-9 compliance program. Employers should have

a compliance program in place. This means that they must complete

an I-9 form for all employees hired after Nov. 6, 1986. Copies of

the I-9 form and any supporting documentation should be maintained

in a separate file where all I-9s are kept. Employers must ensure

that the forms are properly completed by both the employee and the

employer.

Periodic self-audits. Employers should

consider conducting periodic voluntary audits of their immigration

compliance practices. In light of the complexity and newness of

many immigration regulations, both ICE and the U.S. Department of

Labor (DOL) may exercise leniency toward an employer who has

conducted a voluntary immigration audit. Employers are encouraged

to utilize neutral third parties, preferably with expertise in

immigration law, to carry out internal audits, in order to give

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