Massive Increase in Immigration Enforcement: Employers Must Be Prepared!
As widely reported in the media, Congress approved a massive increase in funding for immigration enforcement in the One “Big Beautiful Bill.” It’s estimated that the new funding approximately triples the immigration enforcement budget. You can find details at the website of the American Immigration Council, https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/fact-sheet/big-beautiful-bill-immigration-border-security/. This increases funding for worksite enforcement, among other things. Hiring more ICE agents and increasing detention facilities supports the administration’s mandates for ICE to detain 3,000 individuals a day and issue 6,000 I-9 audit notices a month, which so far have not been achieved. We expect worksite enforcement activities to keep rising over the next year.
It’s more important than ever for employers to (a) conduct an I-9 self-audit and address compliance issues, and (b) develop and communicate an ICE response plan for each worksite. Unfortunately, compliant I-9 self-audits and ICE response plans can’t be based simply on common sense, particularly in the current enforcement environment. Innocent steps like offering employees Know Your Rights trainings can subject employers to charges of obstructing justice or harboring. We are happy to provide guidance for I-9 self-audits and ICE response planning, to make sure your efforts are compliant and don’t make matters worse despite your best intentions.
CANCELLED WORK AUTHORIZATION
The compliance landscape is shifting. The cancellation of employment authorization for many individuals who have been working lawfully under programs such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) already has caused widespread impacts in the U.S. workforce. The rules for employers remain unclear in many ways. Here’s what employers need to know:
- If an employee reports that their work authorization is ending, the employer must terminate the employment unless and until the employee presents alternative I-9 documentation.
- Employers enrolled in E-Verify must terminate employment if they receive an alert in E-Verify that the employee’s work authorization is ending. Employees may return to work with alternative I-9 documentation, in which case the employer must update the employee’s I-9 and E-Verify records and confirm their work authorization again.
If you have questions about how to respond to particular scenarios, please contact Leigh Cole for guidance at lcole@hkemploymentlaw.com or (415) 835-9001.