Thread: Businesses face new documentation for hiring workers as of D

Businesses face new documentation for hiring workers as of Dec. 26

By BRITTONY LUND
The Lufkin Daily News

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Businesses will have to begin using a new, more detailed, I-9 form when hiring new workers beginning Dec. 26.

The new form, designed as a way to make sure businesses only hire documented workers, could result in the laying off of hundreds or even thousands of workers once businesses begin to understand the consequences of the federal government discovering they either knowingly hired undocumented workers or failed to do the necessary checks required by the law.

The new I-9 form removes five documents that new employees can use as proof of identity and eligibility for employment including a certificate of U.S. Citizenship, certificate of naturalization, alien registration receipt card, unexpired reentry permit and unexpired refugee travel document. The revised form is in response to a new initiative by President George Bush to "secure our nations borders," according to immigration paralegal Cyndy Aldred.

During the State of the Union Address on Jan. 23, 2007, Bush talked about stepping up efforts to stop illegal immigration, including enforcement of immigration laws at businesses which had been in existence for years but had not been enforced, according to Aldred. Part of this process included the new I-9 form.

"While the I-9 form used to be just a nominal piece of paper filed away, it has now become the tool the government uses to enforce immigration laws at the work site and new requirements and employer obligations are coming out almost daily at top speed," Aldred said.

A new house resolution, H.R. 4088, which currently has 120 house members in support of it, would make the consequences for a business caught with an undocumented worker for the first time to be a fine between $2,500 and $5,000. The second offense would raise the fine to between $7,500 and $10,000, and the third offense would result in a fine between $25,000 and $40,000.

The I-9 forms are not given to any governmental body, but are kept in a file by the business. However, any government entity can come in at any time to audit a business and any business discovered with I-9 forms either incorrectly completed or discovered with undocumented workers will face both civil and criminal charges since the government will assume the business knowingly hired the workers and knowingly broke the law.

"You'll start seeing businesses and executives indicted by federal grand juries and made into criminals," said immigration lawyer Wayne Haglund. "The number of prosecutions has been doubling every year. We're trying business leaders and executives as criminals because of their employment of undocumented workers."

Government entities share information regarding immigration with one another so a business can get hit from three different angles.

"When you get an audit from Immigration you can almost certainly expect to hear from the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. attorney," Haglund said.

Immigration can also ask for records as far back as six years at any time so Aldred suggested business owners not throw anything away.

"Even four years from now they can go back and say I want to see your I-9s from 2007," Aldred said.

Aldred and Haglund agree that immigration is one of the biggest issues currently in the political arena and both Democrats and Republicans are trying to find ways to fix the problem. Some believe that undocumented workers should not be allowed in and the ones already in the United States should be deported in order to open up more jobs for the rest of the workers in the nation. Others want to fight to give undocumented workers currently working and living in the United States citizenship status so they may be allowed to remain in the country.

Recent layoffs at Pilgrim's Pride, a chicken processing facility, may have been the result of the harsher immigration laws on companies, although Pilgrim's Pride officials couldn't confirm this. Ray Atkinson, director of corporate communications for Pilgrim's Pride, said both the Lufkin and Nacogdoches plants are doing well, but both plants still have openings for jobs with good pay and benefits.

"Like most poultry companies, we face challenges with employee turnover," Atkinson said.

Charlene Meadows, executive director of Workforce Solutions of Deep East Texas, a company which helps unemployed find jobs, confirmed that the organization has had some people come in seeking employment opportunities who had been laid off from Pilgrim's Pride, but Meadows said these former employees were not laid off because of lack of documentation.

Workforce Solutions does not, however, check documentation of customers who come to them for help, according to Meadows.

"It is an employer's responsibility," Meadows said. "Customers are advised that they will be required to show documentation of eligibility to work to the employer and to inform the employer that we do not verify eligibility to work."

Although Pilgrim's Pride officials won't talk about the reasons for the layoffs at the Lufkin and Nacogdoches plants, local church leaders have seen the consequences of the layoffs. Father William Slight, pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Lufkin, said that although he doesn't know a lot about the layoffs or immigration he knows by word of mouth that some of those laid off have gone back to Mexico and those who have remained in Lufkin still have not found new jobs.

"I find them to be a very courageous people," Slight said. "They're not giving up in a way. They're cheerful and resilient. I admire those who have been there working for Pilgrim's Pride."

Slight said he has preached on the problem to his congregation, encouraging parishioners to help out their fellow man in need. He's told those who have lost jobs to go wherever they can in the city for assistance. Slight also said the church has done everything it can to help, including giving those in need of work jobs to do around the church and helping them with food.

At a recent appearance at the University of Texas in Tyler, Cliff Butler, vice chairman of the board at Pilgrim's Pride, commented on the immigration issue businesses are faced with, according to an article printed in the Star-Telegram.

"Our immigration system is antiquated and broken, and it will remain that way until Congress has the courage to pass laws to reform it," Butler said.

Instead of focusing on the actual problem of undocumented workers in the United States, Congress has decided to focus on those who employ undocumented workers, Aldred said.

"They're figuring they won't go underground, they won't start doing jobs in the underground economy where they're paid cash and there's no record of it," Haglund said. "They're assuming they'll just pack up and there'll be an exodus back across the border."

Haglund and Aldred both said that the new harsher laws won't result in anything good.

"There aren't any winners in this deal," Haglund said. "The undocumented worker who's working trying to support a family gets hurt. The business who had a reliable worker who's working trying to support a family gets hurt. The business who had a reliable worker and now can't find a replacement gets hurt, and the consumers get hurt because everything else is going up."

Haglund stressed that he does not know anything about Pilgrim's Pride and does not represent them, but used them as a hypothetical example of what happens when a business is forced to lay off large numbers of its employees.

"When Pilgrim's Pride can't find enough workers they don't produce as many chickens," Haglund said. "The chickens become more scarce. The price of chicken goes up and everybody pays more at the grocery store."

A recent study conducted by Vox, a European economist organization, listed that 20 percent of Houston's documented workers were foreign born.

"Imagine what happens if 20 percent of the buying power goes missing overnight in Houston, Texas," Haglund said. "People don't pay rent, don't pay their house notes, don't pay their credit cards, don't buy gas, don't buy cars, don't buy groceries, don't pay their taxes. What happens to the economy of Houston, Texas?"

Aldred and Haglund said that businesses who know about the new forms have been asking for training on how to correctly complete the forms and revising policies and procedures in order to stay in compliance with the law. The two suggested that all businesses take this opportunity to do an audit and make sure their I-9 forms are all correct and in order.

Employers must begin using the new I-9 forms for all employees hired after Dec. 26. The forms are available online at www.uscis.gov or can be ordered by calling 1-800-870-3676.

http://www.lufkindailynews.com/hp/conte ... _form.html

Why would they remove citizenship and naturalization papers as ID? How else would I be able to prove I am a citizen if I was foreign born?

Hi there Miguelina

Maybe because that's exactly what they want to have happen (?)- but just can't or won't come out and say it..

Originally Posted by PhredE

Hi there Miguelina

Maybe because that's exactly what they want to have happen (?)- but just can't or won't come out and say it..

So the legal immigrants who are now citizens will be punished because of the illegal aliens?

Wonder whose gonna break the news to Gov. Arnold?

Good question...

wait a minute.......from what I'm reading for an I-9, the changes they made seem to encourage illegal aliens...

Employment Eligibility Verification
Purpose of Form :
All U.S. employers are responsible for completion and retention of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens. On the form, the employer must verify the employment eligibility and identity documents presented by the employee and record the document information on the Form I-9. Acceptable documents are listed on the back of the form, and detailed below under "Special Instructions."
Number of Pages :
3
Edition Date :
06/05/07
Where to File :
Do not file Form I-9 with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or USCIS. Form I-9 must be kept by the employer either for three years after the date of hire or for one year after employment is terminated, whichever is later. The form must be available for inspection by authorized U.S. Government officials (e.g., ICE, Department of Labor).

Filing Fee :
$0.00
Special Instructions :
You should have the latest version of the free Adobe Reader to download and use the 2007 version of Form I-9.

Please note the following changes to the Form I-9 process:

Five documents have been removed from List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:
Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561)
Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570)
Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151)
Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327)
Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571)

These documents PROVE legality, why remove them?!?!?!

One document was added to List A of the List of Acceptable Documents:
Unexpired Employment Authorization Document (I-766)

All Employment Authorization Documents with photographs have been consolidated as one item on List A:
I-688, I-688A, I-688B, I-766

Instructions regarding Section 1 of the Form I-9 now indicate that the employee is not obliged to provide his or her Social Security number in Section 1 of the Form I-9, unless he or she is employed by an employer who participates in E-Verify.Employers may now sign and retain Forms I-9 electronically. See instructions on page 2 of the Form I-9.


Note: The Spanish version of Form I-9, available below on this page, may be filled out by employers and employees in Puerto Rico ONLY. Spanish-speaking employers and employees in the 50 states and other U.S. territories may print this for their reference, but may only complete the form in English to meet employment eligibility verification requirements.

If "Citizens" get denied jobs cause they won't take "citizenship papers".... then they can show it doesn't work cause then we are denying "Citizens" jobs...maybe????

You can bet whatever steps the government takes, it won't be the best way to handle it. They won't to cause problems and chaos - that way they can say, 'it doesn't work'.

It will work, just tell them to go home.

If they were really interested in enforcing the law, someone would issue a statement directing the illegals go get their affairs in order and go home. So far, I haven't heard that.

As far as Pilgrim's, the gossip - I stress gossip - says many of those 'laid-off' workers weren't laid off. The jobs they were doing were being outsourced and the workers simply went to work for the contractors. Same job, same workers, just different paycheck.

Father William Slight, pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Lufkin, said that although he doesn't know a lot about the layoffs or immigration he knows by word of mouth that some of those laid off have gone back to Mexico and those who have remained in Lufkin still have not found new jobs

He knows 'by word of mouth' - this coming from someone who is supposed to be a man of God.

The I-9 form is a sham and will probably never be inspected by "authorized U.S. Government officials (e.g., ICE, Department of Labor).' This is Bush's way of securing the borders, what a TRAITOR!

Call your reps! Tell them why the new house resolution, H.R. 4088 is a sham and not to vote for it!