Well, if ICE wants to focus on agriculture, they can effectively shut that whole industry down. That would really serve our national interests.

An I-9 audit that showed a number of undocumented immigrants working at Phoenix Pei Wei restaurants led to the closure of four of the restaurants. Two have recently reopened, but the other two cannot reopen until the restaurant chain can hire enough employees.

The folks at Tracker I-9 explain how it is supposed to work:

A free E-Verify Self-Check feature that allows individuals over the age of 16 to confirm the accuracy of their U.S. employment eligibility will go live on March 21, 2011 in selected states. The E-Verify Self-Check (Self-Check) phase one roll-out will be available to individuals who currently maintain residency in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mississippi and Virginia, or the District of Columbia. As initial testing and system improvements are made, it is expected that USCIS will expand Self-Check to other states, and eventually be available nationwide.

If the new feature works as expected, individuals will be able to use Self-Check in much the same way as employers use E-Verify, except that individuals will need to take extra steps to verify their own identity. After entering certain biographical information, an independent third party service is used to complete the identity verification process, and if successful, the user is redirected to Self Check to enter additional information in order to complete the employment eligibility check. Self Check will then return one of three results: Work Authorization Confirmed, Possible Mismatch with SSA, or Possible Mismatch with Immigration Information.

If any mismatches are found between the information provided to Self-Check and the governments records, the system will provide instructions on how resolve the issue.

Employers are warned not to use Self-Check to pre-screen the employment eligibility of new hires. If an employer or potential employer asks to see a Self-Check query to prove work authorization, individuals are instructed to notify the Department of Justice, Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices at 800-255-7688. Also, a positive Self-Check result does not guarantee that individuals will pass through E-Verify without issue at a later date.

A San Antonio bakery has fired 200 out of its 500 employees after receiving results of a 2010 I-9 audit.

ICE has announced it's now auditing Chipotle restaurants in the Washington, DC area after a massive audit of the restaurant's Minnesota restaurants that led to hundreds of workers leaving the company. The company has told Reuters that some workers have quit ahead of the audit, though the number is limited, according to company officials.

Howard Industries, the Laurel, Mississippi company that recently paid a multimillion dollar fine for I-9 violations is now facing a civil discrimination lawsuit in connection with the hiring of undocumented workers. From the AP:

A discrimination lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court on behalf of four black women claims the company gave preferential treatment to Latino applicants and workers, many of whom were illegal immigrants from Mexico. The lawsuit, which represents only one side of a legal argument, seeks class-action status.

Immigration agents detained nearly 600 illegal immigrants at Howard Industries' electrical transformer plant in Laurel in 2008. It was the largest such raid in U.S. history. The company pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to violate immigration laws and was fined $2.5 million.

A woman who answered the phone Monday at Howard Industries declined to give her name and said the company had no comment on the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that one of the plaintiffs, Charlyn Dozier, applied for a job with Howard Industries every three to six months beginning in 2002, but wasn't offered a position until after the 2008 raid.

LawLogix's John Fay has written a highly informative article explaining how I-9 fines are calculated. The article uses a case involving a Subway restaurant franchise as the backdrop.

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