Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are making repeat visits to past I-9 offenders to see if they've corrected their errors and are now in compliance with the employment eligibility verification process. If not, fines can be trebled.
The revisits are to those companies whose I-9 audits revealed violations within the past three years. If a revisited company has not corrected past documentation errors or is continuing to make the same errors previously uncovered, ICE is authorized to increase the normal fines threefold.
Further, if inspectors uncover an undocumented worker and that worker is not immediately dismissed, company officials will face civil and criminal penalties.
Auditors will be looking for both technical and substantive errors in the I-9 document verification process.
In 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents issued 2,393 form I-9 audit notices, and during these audits and other visits arrested and prosecuted 196 business owners, executives and human resource managers for workforce immigration violations. Both were records, and audits themselves are up more than 375 percent since the Obama administration took over.
Therefore, even if your company has not been audited in the past, it's a good idea to review all I-9 records and the ongoing process itself to ensure compliance. For assistance in the process, you should consider acquiring a copy of Personnel Concepts' I-9 Compliance Kit, which will guide you step by step.