Thread: INS Crackdown

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/subs/art ... 16,00.html

MANAGING
INS Crackdown
Get ready for a tougher Immigration and Naturalization Service. Here's what a more resolute agency may mean for you and your employees.
By Steve Weinstein

If the INS seems spotty in its enforcement, and its regulations confusing, well, that's because they have been. During the boom years the agency turned a blind eye as employers struggled to fill jobs. But after Sept. 11, the economy and the political climate have changed. Recently the President and Congress have been tripping over each other to fix an agency that even its head, James Ziglar, admits needs "reforms urgently." A stricter and more resolute INS operating under a new Department of Homeland Security is emerging.

For the thousands of businesses that employ nearly 16 million foreign workers, a tougher INS could create new problems, not to mention higher legal fees. Regulations under consideration or already in force include limiting controversial H1B visas for high-tech workers and eliminating a grace period for laid-off workers looking for new jobs. Although employers have always had to prove that they were not taking jobs away from qualified U.S. citizens, state unemployment agencies have made it much more difficult to hire resident aliens. Congressman Jim Gibbons (R-Nevada) and other lawmakers want to lower the cap on the total number of skilled alien workers. Plus the INS is taking another look at old hires to make sure they comply with the rules, says Jo Anne Adlerstein, a lawyer who represents employers and employees for Proskauer Rose in Newark, N.J. Even expatriate executives, who used to deal with only token paperwork, now face roadblocks that fewer employers seem willing to help them through.

As confounding as it is for execs, the hassles are worse for unskilled and undocumented workers employed on society's periphery. They are being targeted by random inspections and roundups, not only by the INS but by state inspectors as well. And the Supreme Court ruling last March denying an illegal alien his back pay unintentionally encouraged further abuses.

All this means more headaches and higher legal fees for many small businesses, at a time when they can least afford them. For employers who break the law-intentionally or otherwise-penalties can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Qualified legal help can whittle that down, says Adlerstein. But that can be costly too. The going rate for top legal help like Adlerstein provides is about $345 per hour.

From the Jun 30, 2005 Issue

I'd like to believe this is true and I'd like to see some visable results in illegals getting the boot in some deportation activity. I think it is more likely this article was published to quite the storm rather than something of real action. I hope I'm wrong but won't hold my breath.