As discussed in our February 2017 client alert, immigration policy is changing at a rapid pace. As one would suspect, immigration enforcement and detention activities by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) have followed suit and are on the rise.  In April, in Texas alone, approximately 203 individuals have been arrested in ICE operations targeting criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants, and immigration fugitives.

What can your district’s human resources department do to make sure you are ready for a visit by ICE?  We recommend reviewing employee files to ensure employee I-9 forms are complete and accurate. While ICE has historically given advance notice of a workplace audit, recent visits by ICE have been unannounced. Answers to many questions concerning correcting mistakes on I-9 forms can be found on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services webpage at: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/questions-and-answers. For further information regarding performing a self-audit of the district’s I-9 files, please contact our office.