As with most things in Washington DC, a new administration brings a new way to approach old problems. Anyone who has watched the news, read the newspapers or been online knows that illegal immigration in the US and undocumented workers have been hot-button issues for some time. However, what you may not know is that the approach to cracking down on the problem has shifted from the workers to you – the employer.
How does the focus on cracking down on illegal immigration in the US differ today when compared to previous administrations?
The previous focus had been on investigating and rounding up the workers, but now the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor have begun focusing on businesses that break the rules by hiring these workers. This policy is intended to stop the hiring of illegal aliens and undocumented workers, thus stemming the tide of workers coming to the US for work – no jobs, no reason to come to the US.
A large component of this focus has been the advent of the E-Verify system to complement the traditional Form I-9. A properly filled out Form I-9, along with verification of worker documents, is the first step with every new hire – but now the process has become more complicated.