Greenberg Traurig's Kevin Lashus blogs on LawLogix's compliance blog:

On the heels of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General (IG) audit report, “Information Sharing With Fusion Centers Has Improved, but Information System Challenges Remain,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation’s Directorate (HSI) will soon announce the opening of a Form I-9 Audit Fusion Center.

The IG report states that “DHS has made progress in its efforts to improve information sharing with fusion centers. Fusion center personnel indicated that information sharing had improved over time and the information received from the Department met their needs primarily due to the deployment of DHS intelligence officers to the centers. As a result of improved information sharing, fusion centers have successfully collaborated with the Department during numerous large-scale events and maintained situational awareness after attempted terrorist attacks and other incidents.”

In a nutshell, it is expected that Director James Dinkins or ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton will soon announce the opening of this new worksite enforcement fusion center staffed with nearly 20 forensic auditors committed to examining Forms I-9 of large employers. We understand that several special agents will also be located at the center. The creation follows the HSI’s recognition that assigning auditors to local SAC (Special-Agent-in-Charge) and RAC (Resident-Agent-in-Charge) offices may tend to limit the HSI’s ability to focus on larger employers because a single auditor may not have the ability to review thousands of Forms I-9.

In an effort to boost capacity and entice the SAC to audit larger employers, a Special Agent may request use of the fusion center to assist with a large-scale audit. While the ranks of forensic auditors have been increasing steadily, the Center will not be used to replace local personnel, but rather to increase the national bandwidth of the auditor core.

The town is considering mandating E-Verify use as a condition to having a business license. The city council will vote next Tuesday.

From the Justice Department:

The Justice Department today announced that it has reached a settlement agreement with Hoover Inc., a leading manufacturer of vacuum and carpet cleaners with facilities in Ohio and Texas, to resolve allegations that Hoover engaged in a pattern or practice of employment discrimination by imposing unnecessary and discriminatory hurdles in the I-9 process upon lawful permanent residents.

According to the department’s findings, Hoover required all permanent residents who presented a permanent resident card (green card) for I-9 purposes to produce a new green card when theirs expired. In contrast, Hoover’s U.S. citizen workers were not required to present new documents. Like U.S. citizens, permanent residents are always work authorized, regardless of the expiration of their documentation. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) prohibits employers from treating permanent residents differently than U.S. citizens in the I-9 process.

Under the terms of the settlement, Hoover has agreed to pay $10,200 in civil penalties. Hoover will also train its human resources personnel about employers’ nondiscrimination responsibilities in the I-9 process, and it will provide periodic reports to the department for one year.

DHS is announcing another expansion of the photo matching tool in E-Verify:

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas today announced the expansion of the E-Verify program's capabilities to include U.S. passport photo matching—further enhancing the integrity of the program by enabling E-Verify to automatically check the validity and authenticity of all U.S. passports and passport cards presented for employment verification checks.

"E-Verify is a smart, simple and effective tool that helps employers and businesses throughout the nation maintain a legal workforce," said Secretary Napolitano. "Including U.S. passport photo matching in E-Verify will enhance our ability to detect counterfeit documents and combat fraud."

"U.S. passport photo matching is another in the long line of enhancements we have made to improve the integrity of the E-Verify system," said Director Mayorkas. "Adding U.S. passport photos expands our current photo matching efforts and will play a significant role in preventing and detecting the use of fraudulent documents—all part of major anti-fraud initiatives undertaken by the Department."

Beginning today, E-Verify employers are now able to verify the identity of new employees who present a U.S passport or passport card by comparing that data with State Department records. Approximately 10 percent of all E-Verify queries currently provide a U.S. passport to establish both identity and employment authorization in order to prove employment eligibility.

The fine is apparently for paperwork violations and not for actually hiring any unauthorized workers.

While several successful candidates for governor around the country ran hard against immigration, Rhode Island's new independent governor-elect Lincoln Chafee (formerly a Republican US Senator) has said one of his first actions will be the rescinding of the current Governor Don Carcieri's 2008 executive order mandating state agencies and contractors use E-Verify. Chafee says E-Verify is not necessary and is divisive.

ICE is targeting a California furniture manufacturer based on the company's ignoring a prior finding that its workers were not authorized:

The president of a Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., furniture manufacturing business was charged Monday with criminal violations stemming from a probe by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) into allegations the company hired unauthorized alien workers.

Rick M. Vartanian, 57, of Ladera Ranch, Calif., the president and primary shareholder of Brownwood Furniture, is charged in a criminal information with one count of obstruction of justice and one misdemeanor count of continuing to employ unauthorized workers. According to the court documents, in November 2009, Vartanian told ICE that unauthorized workers identified during an earlier HSI audit were no longer employed by the company, when, in

fact, the company continued to employ 18 of those workers and had taken steps to shield them from detection by HSI. HSI agents executed a search warrant at the company in December 2009 and discovered the 18 unauthorized employees still working there. Vartanian, who has already agreed to pay a $10,000 fine, faces a statutory maximum sentence of 66 months in prison.

The enforcement action against Vartanian comes less than three weeks after the filing of charges against Brownwood Furniture's vice president, Michael Patrick Eberly. Eberly, 48, of Alta Loma, Calif., is charged in a criminal information filed Oct. 12 with one count of continuing employment of unauthorized workers, a misdemeanor. Eberly is scheduled to make his initial court appearance Nov. 19. According to the charging document, Eberly knew that many of

the furniture company's workers were unauthorized and continued to employ them. Eberly, who has agreed to pay a $5,000 fine, also faces a maximum sentence up to six months in prison.

The Associated Press has revealed results of its review of 430 audits conducted between July 1, 2009 and January 31, 2010. According to the AP, ICE reviewed 86,000 I-9s during that time period and found 22,000 documents that suggested a worker was illegally employed.

According to the AP:

Most receive only warnings if the I-9s turn out to be based on fraudulent documents. Some are fined. Few face arrest. And the AP analysis also shows that many of the employers the government has targeted had no violations.

Employers with contracts worth more than $25,000 will have to use E-Verify to do business with the county.

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