The United States Department of Homeland Security, working in concert with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is maintaining its crackdown on U.S. employers who fail to properly verify their workers are authorized to work in the U.S. According to ICE’s figures in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 compared to FY 2008 figures, ICE: conducted I-9 audits of 2,496 employers, up from 503; initiated 3,291 worksite enforcement cases, up from 1,191; criminally arrested 221 employers, up from 135; issued 385 Final Orders for $10,463,987 in fines, up from 18 Final Orders for $675,209 in fines; and debarred 115 individuals and 97 businesses, compared to zero individuals and zero businesses in FY 2008. There have been many recent examples of these heightened enforcement efforts. Such cases have involved three Atlanta business owners who were sentenced in a tax and immigration fraud case, two companies who admitted to hiring illegal aliens and had to forfeit $2 Million, a Dayton-area restaurant fined after an I-9 audit, and more.
