AILA Midyear Conference Focuses on Worksite Enforcement as I-9 and E-Verify Issues Continue to Heat Up the Headlines

by Marcine Seidon December 13, 2011

[Editor’s Note: to all of our readers from the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), we’re happy to post the following blog, which is courtesy of Marcine Seid of Seid Law Group.]

AILA’s 2012 Midyear Conference traditionally brings together the leadership of the Immigration Bar to provide intensive focus on national issues that affect our clients. This year’s conference will analyze worksite enforcement practice issues and the surrounding politics that will increasingly affect US employers.

How Hot is the Worksite Enforcement Issue?

During the past few years, we have seen unprecedented enforcement and legislative activity relating to Form I-9 and E-Verify worksite compliance. Since fiscal year 2009, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has audited more than 6,000 employers, debarred 441 companies and individuals, and imposed more than $76 million in financial sanctions. Meanwhile, states and cities across the country have been mandating the use of E-Verify at the local level, sometimes implementing rules which go above and beyond federal I-9 requirements. The result has been a virtual patchwork of employment verification requirements which are difficult to track, let alone maintain.

Below are just a few of the hot topics which we’ll be discussing at the AILA Midyear conference:

â—¦Judiciary Marks Up Mandatory E-Verify Bill - Chairman Lamar Smith of the House Judiciary Committee has pushed his mandatory E-Verify bill through Committee markup. Individuals who start work will be subject to mandatory E-Verify processing and a potential final nonconfirmation without the ability to correct errors in the DHS/SSA databases before termination of employment. The bill also contains a provision that would make the misappropriation of a Social Security number a felony.
â—¦Silent Raids Continue - In fiscal year 2011 ICE conducted 5 times as many I-9 audits than it did in fiscal year 2008. Josie Gonzalez will lead a panel examining problematic I-9 issues facing employers and will provide effective resolution strategies.
â—¦ICE Carrot and Stick Approach - ICE is inviting “expressâ€