Right now, an executive order from the governor only mandates state agencies and government contractors use the system. A bill introduced this session will require all employers to use the electronic verification system.

In the mean time, a panel reviewing the effects of that executive order is at work.

Despite the fact that Oklahoma's bill is in the courts and could very well be struck down, other states are considering the same legislation. Wyoming is one of the most recent.

An Alabaster, Alabama construction company owner was indicted on harboring charges related to the hiring and employment of illegally present workers. From ICE:

A 38-year-old woman was indicted here yesterday on charges for harboring and employing illegal aliens following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Alabaster Police Department investigation.

Beverly Linan, who owned and operated Rodriguez Construction Company with offices in Alabaster, Alabama, was charged in a three-count indictment. Rodriguez Construction performed masonry work throughout the Jefferson and Shelby County areas.

Count one charged Linan with harboring illegal aliens and counts two and three charged him with knowingly employing illegal aliens and a forfeiture to recover profits made from employing illegal aliens respectively. If convicted of all counts, Linan faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years and a fine of $250,000.

Last week I blogged about the new Executive Order delaying all regulations from taking effect for 60 days. Two rules that seemed to fit the bill were the E-Verify federal contractor rule and the other is the new I-9 form with tighter (and controversial) document requirements. DHS, facing litigation over the E-Verify rule, chose to delay implementation until May. But they seemed to be ignoring the order when it came to the new I-9 form. That form was scheduled to become effective February 2nd. And USCIS posted the new form online a couple of days ago, well after the Executive Order was issued. AILA and other groups asked USCIS why they were somehow allowed to ignore the President. And guess what? They're not! USCIS now is withdrawing the form and making it effective April 3, 2009. They're also reopening the comment period on the form and will accept comments until March 4, 2009.





I-9 delay - Free Legal Forms

Members of the powerful Congressional Hispanic Caucus have sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to strip provisions extending E-Verify for five years and requiring employers receiving stimulus money to use the electronic system. The group's main arguments are that the system is still not accurate enough and that it will disproportionately affect Hispanic workers. They also argue that the stimulus bill is not the appropriate place to deal with this controversial immigration subject. The letter is produced below.





CHC Opposed E-Verify in Stimulus bill - Free Legal Forms

Francesco Insolia, the owner of Michael Bianco Inc., was sentenced to twelve months in prison for harboring and concealing illegal immigrants.

Just got word that DHS and the plaintiffs in the suit challenging the E-Verify federal contractor rule agreed on the extension of the applicability date of the E-Verify contractor rule until May 21, 2009 in order to give the new President time to review the rule. This is longer than the 60 day hold called for under the executive order I wrote about last week.

From ICE:

All seven defendants are accused of conspiring, between 2003 and April 2006, to harbor illegal aliens employed by IFCO and to encourage and induce those illegal aliens to reside in the United States. Defendants Tiesman, Gines, Ross, and Murda are charged in a related conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration by submitting false payroll-related information to those agencies, and to facilitate the misuse of social security numbers by IFCO employees. Defendants Davidson, Hoskins, Soto Castillo, and Murda are named in two counts with substantive violations of harboring illegal aliens employed by IFCO and encouraging and inducing those illegal aliens to reside in the United States. Soto Castillo is charged with transportation of particular illegal aliens in three substantive counts. Each offense set forth in the seven-count indictment carries maximum penalties of up to five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

Today's superseding indictment stems from the government's investigation of illegal immigration and employment-related practices at IFCO's pallet management services plants, which procure, recondition and distribute wood pallets. The investigation began following a tip to ICE in February 2005, that illegal alien laborers at the Albany IFCO plant were observed ripping up their W-2 forms.

Secure Arkansas will support the bill of Rep. Bill Sample (R-Hot Springs).

The same question is coming up in Georgia as in other states. The Georgia Department of Labor doesn't appear to be doing any monitoring to see who is and who is not complying. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did its own investigation and found that most state agencies had signed up for E-Verify, though many did so a year late. But they also found that county and local agencies often had not. Some agency representatives were not even aware of the requirement. Opponents of the law argue that cash-strapped agencies shouldn't be burdened with the new requirement.

The House has included a provision extending the E-Verify program from March 6, 2006. The House Appropriations committee has not released the text of the amendment yet so I'm not able to clarify the exact period of extension. The press release from the committee linked above says it is extended for five years. The press release from the amendment sponsor, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA), says the extension is four years. It's possible that they are both correct and the extension is until September 30, 2013, five years from the expiration last year.

A second amendment requiring E-Verify be used by all companies receiving stimulus funds was also passed. The amendment was offered by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA).

Despite the 60 day bar on new rules going in to effect, USCIS has posted its new Form I-9. The form must be used effective February 2nd. No word yet on whether it will be pulled to comply with the Obama Administration's order to hold off on implementing any new rules from the date of the Inauguration until 60 days have passed.

Representative Bill Sample, Republican of Hot Springs, has proposed a bill that would create a harboring law similar to Oklahoma's and would require public employers to use the E-Verify system.

WIBC-FM reports that Senator Mike Delph will re-introduce his employer sanctions bill in this legislative session.

The State in Colombia, South Carolina reports.

State and local government agencies must use E-Verify as of January 1st. Contractors with those agencies also must use the system if they have contracts worth more than $,000, receive state loans or tax benefits or who have been found to have previously hired illegally present immigrants. And firms that violate immigration law face the threat of having their business licenses revoked.

The AP reports on a survey of legislators in the state and most are indicating their support for a bill which mandate use of E-Verify for the state's employers.

But employers in the state are pushing back.

In the mean time, the bill has now been introduced.

The 10th Circuit is still considering a case challenging the constitutionality of Oklahoma's employer sanctions law and officials in the state are growing anxious.

Well, this is being described as an unintended consequence, but people in the Rhode Island Governor's office are actually surprised that immigration raids they encouraged of two janitorial contractors that service state government will have the effect of driving up the cost for janitorial services of 20% this year.

The Hilton Head Island Packet reports that the state's new law took effect at the beginning of this month with state, county and municipal governments and government contractors with 500 or more employees to use E-Verify. Smaller contractors will begin using the system on July 1st.

Also on July 1st, private employers with 100 or more employees will have to either use E-Verify or require new employees to show an in-state driver's license or a license from a state with requirements as stringent as South Carolina's. Smaller employers will have teh same requirement beginning July 1, 2010.

Violating employers could face the loss of their business licenses. The law will be enforced through random audits of employers. However, no money has yet been allocated for the audits.

Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. has told a radio station that the decline in the number of illegally present immigrants in the country due to the recession has reduced the need to implement SB81, the state's new employer sanctions law. Huntsman also warned his fellow Republicans:

'Before we rush headlong into anything, first of all listen very carefully to what the federal government is going to do.' Huntsman said, adding that one reason national Republicans took a beating in the 2008 elections is because they lost the Hispanic vote by 2-to-1 to Democratic candidates, and the 'critical' tone of Republicans on immigration was a big factor in those numbers.

The Times and Democrat in Orangeburg, South Carolina discusses fears business owners in the state have regarding the new employer sanctions law in that state.

Fei Guo Tang, owner of a Chinese restaurant in LaGrange, Kentucky was sentenced to eight months in prison for knowingly employing at least ten immigrants unauthorized to work. From ICE's press release:

Fei Guo Tang, 38, of LaGrange, Ky., is the owner of Jumbo Buffet located at 1218 Market St. in LaGrange. He was sentenced Jan. 6 by U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Simpson III, Western District of Kentucky, to eight months in prison for employing illegal aliens at his restaurant. Tang was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release following his release from prison.

Tang had pleaded guilty to knowingly employing at least 10 illegal aliens at his restaurant between November 2006 and November 2007 for commercial advantage and financial gain. He was arrested Nov. 14, 2007, when ICE agents executed a search warrant at his restaurant. During the search warrant ICE agents seized about $59,000 from the restaurant, which will be forfeited to the United States, and detained six illegal aliens found working at the restaurant, who have since been deported.

ICE agents initiated the investigation in December 2006 after receiving credible information that illegal aliens were knowingly being employed at the Jumbo Buffet restaurant. Tang is not a U.S. citizen, and will be subject to deportation proceedings after he completes his prison sentence.

Nebraska's unicameral legislature is considering Legislative Bill 34, a bill that mandates all employers begin using E-Verify in 2010 and also calls for the revocation of business licenses for employers knowingly employing unauthorized workers.

Wyoming House Bill 103 is somewhat broader. It has a harboring statute like the Oklahoma and Utah laws. E-Verify would be mandated for all employers and will be phased in over three years starting with state and local agency employees as well as employers contracting with those agencies, then large employers and eventually the smaller ones as well.

The bill also imposes fines on employers knowingly hiring unauthorized workers, something that seems an obvious violation of IRCA which only permits states to use their license laws in enforcing immigration rules (and even that is debatable).

The Bush Administration has announced that they are postponing the implementation date of the E-Verify mandate for federal contractors until February 20, 2009 after negotiations with various parties to a lawsuit challenging the new law. Here is the US Chamber's press release:





E-Verify FAR rule being postponed - Free Legal Forms

Federal contractor memorandum of understaning for E-Verify - Free Legal Forms

USCIS announces that 100,000 employers are now using E-Verify. That number is going to go up steadily as more and more states mandate its use and federal contractors start signing up.

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