On July 1, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initiated a significant new audit initiative by issuing Notices of Inspection (“NOIs”) to 652 businesses, which is more in one day than ICE issued throughout the entire last fiscal year. Continue reading at Littler's Global Immigration Counsel blog.
The effective date of the new regulations requiring the use of E-Verify by certain federal contractors has been postponed an additional three months until May 21, 2009.
Fore more information on this announcement, see Littler’s ASAP: Effective Date of Federal Contractor E-Verify Regulation Pushed Back to May 2009 by Jorge R. Lopez, Joshua S. Roffman and Lisa A. Cottle.
A bill that would amend section 274A(e)(4)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to substantially increase employer penalties for violations was introduced last week by Rep. Sue Wilkins Myrick (R-NC). The 10k Run for the Border Act (H.R. 588) would increase the fines for knowingly hiring or recruiting an undocumented worker, or continuing to employ an illegal alien when the employee’s legal status changes or becomes known.
Under this new bill, an employer could be fined between $10,000 and $80,000 for each violation, an increase from the current $250-$2,000 penalty range. For an employer with a prior violation, the penalties are increased to between $80,000 and $200,000, up from $2,000 to $5,000 per violation under current law. For a repeat offender, the fine skyrockets to a range of $120,000 to $1.6 million. The current fine for such a repeat offense is a minimum penalty of $3,000 and a maximum of $10,000.
If State or local law enforcement officials provide material assistance in investigating or prosecuting employers that are in violation of this law, they are entitled to 80 percent of the fines paid by those employers. It follows that such large financial incentives would increase enforcement.
The provisions of this amendment would take effect on the day of enactment. This bill has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Another immigration bill that would increase employer fines for hiring undocumented workers has already been introduced this year. The Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection act of 2009 (H.R. 98) would make more sweeping changes to how employers are required to verify employee work eligibility, and increase fines as well as jail time for employers in violation.
A new bill introduced in the House by Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) would significantly increase fines and jail time for employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens or fail to verify their employment eligibility using a new procedure outlined in the bill. The Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act of 2009 (H.R. 98) increases penalties for each hiring offense of up to $50,000, up from fines ranging between $275 and $16,000 under current law. Offending employers could also be liable for deportation costs. In addition, employers would face jail sentences of up to five years per offense, up from the current maximum six-month sentence. The bill likewise authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to bring a civil action against an employer who fails to pay the assessed penalty.
The legislation would create a new identification verification system by which employers can more easily check on a potential hire’s employment eligibility. In essence, the Act amends the Social Security Act by requiring Social Security cards to contain an encrypted machine-readable electronic identification strip and digital photo that would enable employers to verify an individual’s identification by using a phone verification system or running the card through a card reader.
The Act further authorizes the Department of Homeland Security to establish and maintain an Employment Eligibility Database, to which employers would have access. An employer who follows the appropriate steps to verify a potential hire’s work eligibility would not be liable for hiring an illegal alien if an error was made by the phone verification system, the card-reader verification system, or the Employment Eligibility Database and the employer was unaware of such error. The employer must also terminate the undocumented worker upon being informed of the error.
If signed into law, the provisions of this legislation would take effect two years after the date of enactment. This bill has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Judiciary Committee, the House Homeland Security Committee, and the House Education and Labor Committee.
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