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Immigration

ICE reports record number of I-9 audits, employer arrests

12/08/2011
This was not the year to get sloppy with your I-9 forms. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a record 2,393 audit notices to inspect employers’ I-9s this year, a more than 375% increase from audits in 2008.

Will hiring aliens cost PA businesses their licenses?

10/27/2011
Pennsylvanians who knowingly hire illegal immigrants would lose their professional licenses under a bill being considered by the Pennsylvania Legislature. The “one-strike-and-you’re-out” law would yank licenses for first-offense violations.

Feds expand E-Verify ‘Self-Check’ to 16 more states

10/06/2011

Until recently, the E-Verify Self-Check on­­line system was available in only five states. Now the Department of Homeland Security has made it available to people in 16 more states.

Immigrant status counts in failure-to-hire cases

09/16/2011
It’s illegal for employers to use em­­ployees’ undocumented status as an excuse to avoid paying the minimum wage and overtime. But that’s not true in failure-to-hire cases—because if an applicant isn’t authorized to work, the em­­ployer couldn’t hire the worker at all.

The ICE man cometh: How to survive an I-9 audit

09/13/2011
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will audit almost 4,000 employers this year, checking to see if their I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification records are in order. Whether your company is on the ICE list or you have been lucky enough to avoid scrutiny until now, it is important to understand what an audit involves and how it may affect your organization.

Hershey hit with protests by immigrant temp workers

08/23/2011
The students thought they were signing up for a cultural exchange program in which they would travel to Pennsylvania to work and experience life in Hershey. Instead they ended up working in warehouses preparing Hershey products for shipping. Along with members of the AFL-CIO, they recently protested outside the warehouse facilities.

Photo Matching and E-Verify?

08/10/2011
Question: If an employee provides an I-9 document that’s subject to photo matching in E-Verify, can an employer ask or require the employee to provide a copy of the document to use during the E-Verify process?

How should we respond to a ‘no-match’ letter?

08/10/2011
In April 2011, the Social Security Administration resumed the practice of sending no-match letters, which notify an employer of a discrepancy between information they reported on an employee’s W-2 form and information in the SSA’s database. The DOJ’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices recently issued the following “do’s and don’ts” regarding no-match letters:

What do we need to do to hire an H-1B immigrant currently working for another employer?

08/10/2011
Q. We are interested in hiring someone who is currently working for another company in H-1B status. Do we have to file a new H-1B application before this person can work for our company? If so, how long do we have to wait until he can start work?

The ICE man cometh … with a notice of intent to audit

08/10/2011
You may have noticed a slight chill in the air recently. For the second time this year, ICE has notified 1,000 employers that it plans to inspect their Form I-9 records. Whether your company has received a Notice of Intent to Audit or you have been lucky enough to avoid one until now, it is important to understand how a NOI may impact your organization.