Independent Contractor Compliance Blog

WASHINGTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is employing a quieter, and possibly more effective, approach to going after illegal immigrants employed in the United States. Instead of conducting high-profile police raids of factories, farms and other businesses, ICE auditors are showing up to audit companies’ books. In just the first two weeks of July 2010, ICE issued 652 Notices of Inspection (NOIs) to businesses nationwide. (The notices alert business owners that ICE intends to inspect their hiring records to determine whether or not they are complying with employment eligibility verification laws and regulations).

This is a significant increase in the number of NOIs used as an enforcement tool.

In all of FY 2008, ICE issued only a total of 503 NOIs nationwide.

“Since 2009, the Department of Homeland Security has audited more than 2,785 employers suspected of hiring illegal laborers…” said Matthew Chandler, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Agency. 

“ICE is committed to establishing a meaningful I-9 inspection program to promote compliance with the law. This nationwide effort is a first step in ICE’s long-term strategy to address and deter illegal employment,” said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE John Morton.

It’s a different-less dramatic-enforcement

The ICE auditor is looking at payroll records, possibly the accounts payable ledgers, contract labor records and other disbursements for labor, then comparing the information to the required I 9 forms and supporting documentation. The auditor does not even see, or speak to, the workers-properly documented or not. There are no SWAT uniforms, or gun-toting police-just a single auditor, sitting at a desk, looking at accounting and employment records.

The ICE auditor does not confront the worker eye-to-eye.

It doesn’t matter if the worker is physically located at the business, not working that day, or standing right there next to the ICE auditor during the audit. If the ICE auditor finds undocumented workers, those without properly completed I-9 forms with valid Social Security Numbers on file, several things happen:

• 1. The company is fined.
• 2. The worker is fired (ICE leaves it up to employers to fire workers whose documents cannot be validated. But an employer who fails to do so risks federal prosecution).
• 3. The worker is not arrested or deported, so it is possible they can remain in the U.S. to find another employer.

This tactic is generating revenue.

The audits have resulted in over $3 million in civil fines so far in just 2010.  There have been more than $6.4 million in fines since 2009, according to an ICE spokesperson.

This could be a new avenue for labor law enforcement too.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see the ICE auditor finding other labor law violations and notifying the appropriate agency, such as U.S. Department of Labor, or state labor agencies. (Note: These information sharing agreements already exist!) This has the potential of creating a domino effect that could become very expensive for those employers who willingly or unknowingly ignore labor laws.