Federalizing the Local Cops

Nik Steinberg wrote a heck of an editorial in The Christian Science Monitor and the sheer logic of it should have the feds blushing.  Here’s a few choice excerpts…"Imagine living in a state where local cops can stop anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally, and arrest them if they lack proof of citizenship. Last month, Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri signed an executive order directing state police to enforce federal immigration law, which will let them do just that.""such laws make communities less safe by discouraging immigrants from cooperating with local police. Police depend on residents to report crimes and identify criminals. But when immigrants fear that talking to officers may lead to their deportation, they remain quiet.""Proponents …

How to Further Mess Up This Economy

I consider the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) to be a pretty credible organization as far interests groups go.  The main value of their efforts is in serving as a reality check for governmental "initiatives" designed to "help".  For this reason, the results of their recently commissioned study caught my eye, and it is yet another glaring revelation of just how oblivious Washington is to the precarious state of our national economy, Wall Street bailouts notwithstanding.According to the study, performed by former OMB economist/now-consultant Richard Belzer, the USG’s proposed plan to crack down on illegal workers could cost employers more than $1 billion a year and legal workers billions in lost wages.  The study will be among public comments submitted to …

SHRM Lobbies Oklahoma in Support of Biometrics

SHRM headed to Oklahoma Monday to encourage small business owners to lobby their congressional delegation in support of the immigration reform bill. the organization is supporting.  The measure would require employees and applicants to prove their identity to employers by providing biometric information, and would strengthen penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants, among other provisions. Bob Carragher, manager of government relations for the Society for Human Resource Management, was among those speaking to Oklahoma small business owners at the annual Small Business Day At The Capitol event.Currently, Oklahoma’s law mandates the use of E-Verify system, available online. According to Mr. Carragher, in 2006, when government officials raided six Swift & Co. meatpacking p…

Deputizing Employers: ICE’s New Angle

I’ve been pondering the quagmire in which ICE’s enforcement actions placed Pilgrim’s Pride recently.  Imagine this scenario:You are a corporate compliance manager/counsel/etc. and the phone rings.  A person claiming to be from ICE advises you that your company is going to be subjected to an I-9 audit and you have 3 days to get it together.  Oh, and by the way, “the extent of your cooperation will determine what sanctions will be determined if anything is non-compliant.”To those of us who live this stuff everyday, that last sentence is translated as roughly “do what we say or you can go to jail.”  Given the fact that there probably isn’t a company in the U.S. which is 100% compliant, things get scary.  Suddenly, it isn’t the company and government sorting out discre…

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

In the midst of the current chaos caused by the Feds and their "no holds barred" enforcement efforts, one has to wonder if anyone in Washington is aware that they have effectively placed U.S. employers in a irreconcilable Catch-22, one which has the potential to disrupt our economy far beyond the sub-prime/housing sector mess by further destabilizing the agriculture, food service, hospitality and other sectors.We can only look at the unfolding storyline from a given snapshot in time, and here is where we sit today: ICE is stalking the U.S. in search of employers with defective I-9 compliance, which is pretty much like scouring the beach for sand. (I can tell you that after 17 years of practicing immigration compliance law, I have never conducted an I-9 audit which failed to produ…

A Short and Scary ICE Quote…

You read about the Pilgrim’s pride raid, where Federal agents arrested more than 300 people as part of an identity theft investigation at Pilgrim’s Pride plants in West Virginia and four other states.  According to ICE, agents had taken into custody 311 people by Thursday afternoon. Of those, 91 face criminal charges alleging false use of a Social Security number and document fraud. The rest face charges of immigration violations and were being processed for deportation.THE KILLER QUOTE, From John Chakwin, Special Agent in charge of ICE’s investigations in Dallas:"We’ll go wherever the evidence leads us, whether it’s in the company or offsite the company.  We’re still here. This is not the end."…

Relying on E-Verify Alone: Playing Chicken with the Feds

Chances are you heard about the big Tyson raids of the past, but it appears that DHS appetite for chicken is bigger than we thought.  Consider the press release just issued (4/17/08)by Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, self-described as “the largest chicken company in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest in Mexico.”  The good folks at Pilgrim’s Pride have steadily relied on the government’s E-Verify system according to wha they say below, but it seems that their approximately 54,500 people made too tasty target for ICE to take that good faith reliance into consideration.  Read on and weep, Bewildered Compliance Colleague:”Officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division took into custody a total of ap…

Who’s on first? States Laws Create Compliance Chaos

The Sunday Gazette Mail reported that despite the state-driven legislation to address the problem of unauthorized workers, things are slowing in state capitols this spring, with many propposals "watered down, delayed or outright defeated."  But amidst the debates, employer confusion continues to mount.The article, an incisive piece written by Daniel C. Vock and published on April 13th, does a fine job of painting an overall picture on this important trend we here at i9 Advantage monitor on a daily basis.  (Believe me, keeping up with federal rules is a full-time job; trying to keep up with potentially 50 contradicting sets of state rules is a nightmare, but that’s what we do!)Mr. Vock reported that three states’ "get-tough" proposals died in committee — good …

EXODUS: Movement of Job People (out of the U.S.)

With all due respect to the late Bob Marley, the title was "simply irresistable" given my topic for today.  Whoops, ditto for the late Robert Palmer.  An "exodus" is not too dramatic a word to illustrate the latest trend in globalism, and it foretells of a grim future for the U.S.  When immigration reform was pulled last year, Microsoft’s Bill Gates responded by announcing that since he couldn’t bring in the talent he needed for his U.S. operations, his big new plant would be across the border in Canada, where the government generally works WITH employers, not against them.With this month’s same-day exhaustion of the paltry 65,000 annual H-IB professional worker visas available for U.S. fiscal year 2009 (beginning October 1, 2008), others are following su…

Republicans and Laissez Faire Part Ways

Historically identified as pro-business champions of the free market economy, the Republican party continues its post-September-11th expansion of government intervention in the private sector, and people are starting to notice.The process, of course, began after the terrorist bombings, when the world awakened to the very real threat posed by religious fanatics bent on destruction.  Responding swiftly, both parties created the Homeland Security Administration consolidating immigration, customs, and a variety of previously independent agencies into one mighty powerhouse.  The hiring of personnel represented the largest peacetime surge in the federal payroll since the beginning of the Republic.Whether one agrees or disagrees with the what has happened since, it is clear that the Hom…