Thread: Prepare for immigration reform

Advice to companies: Big changes in immigration law are coming soon.
BY NIALA BOODHOO
nboodhoo@MiamiHerald.com
The message from a recent seminar for employers on immigration: Changes in federal law may be coming soon, but even so, businesses need to be ready to handle immigration issues now.

Speakers at the event, sponsored by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, included Emilio Gonzalez, the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, who told the business community that prospects for big changes in federal law on immigration are likely this year.

''We are working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to come to an agreement on language that everybody can support,'' he told businesses.

Employment lawyers at the daylong seminar mentioned that federal immigration authorities have in the past year stepped up checks on businesses to make sure they are complying with current regulations. Officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington told businesses that they have recently hired more than a hundred forensic auditors who will also start fanning out to companies.

Added Wal-Mart's immigration counsel, Magdeline Momani:

``From the perspective of being able to manage your business effectively, these issues are not going to go away.''

Some highlights from the seminar:

• Current regulations: The legal requirement for employers is to fill out an I-9 form for every worker. Since last year, I-9s have been available in electronic as well as the traditional paper form.

The Immigration Reform and Control Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of a person's citizenship status or national origin. Compliance with I-9 documentation must be done for every new hire, and workers are permitted to present any document or combination of documents as accepted by law. For more information, visit www.us doj.gov/crt/osc/

• Basic pilot program: The government's basic pilot program, sometimes also called the Employment Eligibility Verification, is currently voluntary. Most current proposed federal legislation on comprehensive immigration reform makes participation in a government database system mandatory.

Just 14,000 of the more than 7 million employers across the country participate in the free, Web-based program. The program returns a match on the majority of workers in about three seconds, federal officials say. Problems with Social Security numbers or the Department of Homeland Security can take up to two weeks to resolve.

The program currently contains no way to verify identity, for example, if the person holding the Social Security number actually owns the number.

For information on registering for the program, visit www.vis-dhs.com/Employer Registration/

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/bu ... d_business

''We are working with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle to come to an agreement on language that everybody can support,'' he told businesses.

Well, so much for a government for the people and by the people. I guess transparency in government is only something we can dream about. It's a crying shame that our representatives work the country's issues from backroom and not on the congressional floors.

No problem, a few swift kicks in the rear and they'll remember who's in charge.

The program currently contains no way to verify identity, for example, if the person holding the Social Security number actually owns the number.

Sovereign wrote:

No problem, a few swift kicks in the rear and they'll remember who's in charge.