Immigration

Ready, set, E-Verify!

06/05/2008

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Jabs, threats fly over representative’s ‘Peasant’ remarks

06/03/2008

Colorado farmers are no closer to a solution to their labor shortage after a debate on the House floor over a bill that would help bring in Mexican migrant workers through temporary visas. Whatever headway was being made on the issue stopped short when Rep. Douglas Bruce opined, “I don’t think we need 5,000 more illiterate peasants in Colorado” …

El Paso commissioners withdraw support for immigration raids

05/30/2008

On May 5, El Paso County officials adopted a resolution calling for an end to workplace immigration raids until Congress passes comprehensive immigration reform legislation. The “Rights and Justice for Immigrant Workers” resolution calls for eliminating employer sanctions and no-match letters …

Seven states now mandate use of E-Verify system

05/22/2008

The silence from Capitol Hill on immigration issues has spurred states to pile on the new laws. Example: In the past two years, seven states have passed laws requiring certain employers to use the federal government’s E-Verify system to electronically confirm new hires’ employment eligibility …

Should we now be using the new I-9 Forms to document worker eligibility?

05/16/2008

Q. Our HR department is using I-9 forms from several years ago. At what point should we use the new revised form issued by the federal government? …

Immigration enforcement focusing on smaller firms, criminal arrests

05/15/2008

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) grabbed headlines in the past year with large-scale immigration raids at big companies. But now that ICE has more trained officers and better coordination with other agencies, it’s targeting more small businesses, too …

Workers’ lawsuit says hotel owners enslaved them

05/13/2008

Four Filipino immigrants have filed a federal lawsuit accusing a pair of Oacoma, S.D., hotel owners of subjecting them to conditions of slavery, forced labor, trafficking in persons and peonage—essentially indentured servitude …

Staffing company owes $3 million to guest workers

05/07/2008

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has directed Advanced Professional Marketing Inc. (APMI), a medical staffing company based in New York City, to pay almost $3 million in back wages to more than 150 H-1B guest workers …

Farmers advocating for state temporary worker bill

05/01/2008

A bill to help farmers apply to the federal H-2A guest worker program has hit a snag in the Legislature. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Callhan, would help farmers complete the application process in exchange for a fee of about $200 …

Immigration woes a lot of rot, says soon-To-Be ex-Tomato grower

04/25/2008

Fourth-generation farmer Keith Eckel, owner of Fred W. Eckel Sons Farms in Clarks Summit, has said he will no longer grow tomatoes because he can’t find enough workers to harvest them. Eckel, Pennsylvania’s largest grower of fresh-to-market tomatoes, hired mostly Mexican laborers to bring in past harvests …