U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the entity within the Department of Homeland Security charged with ensuring compliance at the worksite (Worksite Enforcement).  Worksite Enforcement investigations focus on employers involved in criminal activity or worker exploitation. Worksite Enforcement will uncover document fraud, criminal, administrative immigration and/or customs violations having a direct nexus to the employment of unauthorized workers. 

The real “news” is in a break from past practice, many of the recent Worksite Enforcement actions have focused on punishing owners, managers and company officers having “constructive knowledge” of immigration violations.  In other words, company managers and officers are liable when the employer “…has information available to it that would indicate that the alien is not authorized to work... .” 

Glinsmann & Glinsmann, Chartered can assist you and your company with compliance of the immigration laws.  Here are some of the services we can provide you:

• Form I-9 Compliance
• Assist in Verifying the Authenticity of Documents
• Conduct Employer Requested Audit
• Represent Company in an ICE Audit or Raid
• Represent Company if Fined for Immigration Law Violations

Recent enforcement actions by ICE highlight the shift in enforcement priorities to include the “hire and harboring of aliens” not authorized for employment:

·   August 13, 2008 Dulles Airport WASHINGTON - ICE arrested 42 men illegally present in the country at Dulles International Airport as part of a critical infrastructure protection (CIP) operation. ICE agents, with support of airport security agencies, arrested the illegal aliens just inside the airport grounds at a checkpoint established to verify the identity and immigration status of workers entering a service gate.

·    August 8, 2008 DES MOINES, Iowa - An official with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union was sentenced Friday to a year and a day in federal prison for harboring illegal aliens employed at the Swift & Company processing plant in Marshalltown, Iowa. This sentencing resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that also included the December 2006 arrests of 1,297 illegal aliens employed at Swift plants in six states.

·   August 7, 2008 SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A husband and wife pleaded guilty in federal court here Thursday to hiring and harboring illegal aliens who did roofing work for them. 

·    July 30, 2008 Drywall company executive sentenced for harboring illegal aliens. COVINGTON, Ky. - The chief financial officer of a Cincinnati-area drywall company was sentenced Wednesday to three years probation, six months of home detention, and 100 hours of community service for harboring illegal aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain. This sentence resulted from a criminal worksite enforcement investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE recently published a newsletter for employers located on the web at http://www.ice.gov/doclib/pi/news/newsreleases/articles/wse_advisory_v27.pdf