I-9 Crackdown Intensifies

The federal government has once again expanded its crackdown on the hiring of illegal immigrants and is conducting more to support its efforts, according to The Wall Street Journal.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)is targeting as many as 1,000 companies in this new wave of inspections. Federal agents will be showing up at those companies over the next few days asking them to produce their I-9 forms to prove the work eligibility of each of their employees. These audits come on the heels last month’s announcement that ICE was establishing an employment compliance inspection center to help coordinate its efforts across the states.Meanwhile, there is a push by some state and federal legislators to mandate that all companies use the federal E-Verify system to verify that their workers are legal. Currently, the federal government only requires federal contractors to use the system, and some states also require it.Only around 11 percent of employers are currently using E-Verify. If it becomes mandated, you will have to use it for all of the contractors you place if you are not utilizing a contracting back-office, and your clients will need to use it on all of their direct-hire employees, creating an additional compliance burden. If you are using FoxHire as your contracting back-office, we are already running all contractors through E-Verify, so if it becomes mandatory, you and your clients will already be in compliance.