Think that maintaining properly vetted I-9 forms on your employees isn’t that big a deal?

The answer –it is a big deal–has been driven home forcefully to management at Columbia Farms in Columbia, S.C.

After an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in 2008 discovered hundreds of illegal immigrants working at the poultry plant, most of the workers were deported, dozens of others were tried and sentenced to jail time for using fake documents, and two of the farms’ managers were criminally charged.

The two managers escaped the noose, so to speak, when the company recently agreed to a $1.5 million plea agreement that will require the accused to undergo training. The company itself, in agreeing to reform its hiring practice to legal standards and enroll in the E-Verify program, also must hire an on-site compliance officer and contract with an external auditing firm to monitor its employment practices.

The I-9 form from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is required of all new hires and is used to verify their legal status to work in the United States through the submission of identifying documents. E-Verify is a voluntary online program that can be used to check people’s records at the Social Security Administration and USCIS to verify their right to work in the states.

In short, the I-9 process is an important one. Fortunately, Personnel Concepts has developed a comprehensive I-9 Compliance Kit to help employers and human resource personnel maintain proper I-9 verifications. It is a big deal.

Declaring it is out "to  target the root cause of illegal immigration," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit are scurrying about to inspect companies’ 1-9 employment verification records to make sure no illegal immigrants are on the payroll.

ICE hit the jackpot recently when it inspected Houston’s IFCO Systems, the nation’s largest manufacturer of pallets. Inspectors found 1,000 employees who were not authorized to work in the U.S., and IFCO was hit with a $20.7 million fine.

This approach is the reversal of the Bush-era ICE methodology when companies were raided and the illegal workers rounded up and sent off for deportation hearings. Now it’s the employers who are being targeted and fined.

“Employment is the primary driving force behind illegal immigration,” a DHS statement said. “By working with employers to ensure a legal workplace, ICE is able to stem the tide of those who cross our borders illegally or unlawfully remain in our country to work.”

The DHS statement said ICE would base upcoming investigations on tips from the public, reports from current and former employees and referrals from other law enforcement agencies. “ICE does not randomly target employers,” the statement said. “All investigations and arrests are based on specific intelligence obtained from a variety of sources.”

Though ICE is not directly raiding workforces, it reaffirmed its commitment to prosecuting and eventually deporting those who are found to be here illegally.

Employers, the rules and form for verifying your employees’ eligibility to work in the United States have both changed. Stay current–and in legal compliance–by picking up a copy of Personnel Concepts’ I-9 Compliance Kit.

Though the Obama administration has dropped the “no match” rule that created a safe harbor for employers who lay off workers whose Social Security numbers don’t match their names, the layoff route is still the route of choice for employers who get caught with illegals on their workforce.

Such is the case with American Apparel in Los Angeles. A recent audit found 1,600 employees who were illegal immigrants and another 200 with various documentary problems, including faked SSNs. According to the Los Angeles Times, the company will now lay off 1,500 illegal workers, while promising to consider rehiring them if they get the immigration status straightened out. The number represents 10 percent of the overall workforce.

Though it has dropped the “no match” rule, the Obama administration has actually stepped up workplace inspections for illegal immigrants, shifting away from the Bush administration’s strategy of conducting immigrant raids and rounding up illegals for deportation.

The result, however, is a string of American Apparel-like stories.

Employers need to stay in compliance with the provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 by certifying the work-eligible status of all their employees through use of the I-9 form (and in certain situations the E-Verify system). To help with the process of certifying worker eligibility, Personnel Concepts has developed a comprehensive but easy-to-follow I-9 Compliance Kit. Get yours today.

The United States Customs and Immigration Service (USCIS), formerly INS until becoming part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has issued a new form I-9, which is used by employers to verify that potential employees have the legal right to work in the United States.

The form has been revised to comply with new USCIS regulations concerning which documents can be used for verification. Out are any expired documents (which implausibly were acceptable until these new regs), and in is a new Passport Card (which can also be used in lieu of a full passport when traveling to and from Canada or Mexico, but just by car).

The new form, which goes into effect Feb. 2, is a five-page document, and in the middle of the document is one entire page of white with one lone, shaded box called “Paperwork Reduction Act.” The box advises users that the form will take, on average, 12 minutes to fill out, and then it asks that suggestions on improving the process be sent to a certain address.

One whole page of paper for one paragraph of information in the name of paperwork reduction!

I quickly gave a call to a compliance and labor law researcher at Personnel Concepts by the name of Dave Daniels. We both got a chuckle out of that virtually blank page, and he said he had called USCIS about the form (just released on Tuesday) to see whether that reduction-notice page needs to be submitted with the form. He was told no. He also asked why the new I-9 had an expiration date of July 2009, and the USCIS person expressed surprise at the early expiration date and said this was the first time he’d noticed it!

“Our government hard at work,” we both concluded.