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Posts Tagged ‘US Immigration Policy’

California’s “Underground Economy” Avengers | Immigration Compliance Group NEWS

Sunday, July 29th, 2012

   By:  Timothy Sutton, ICG Communications Editor

High unemployment across the country may be contributing to the shift in focus by numerous State and Federal agencies toward eradicating the underground economy. This term is used in the insurance industry to refer to unlicensed, untaxed, and uninsured employers or contractors. In immigration circles, the illegal workforce is the common term used to represent undocumented workers who like workers in the underground economy, represent the unlawful economic advantage unscrupulous employers have over law-abiding businesses. In response to these illegal employment practices, the government is on a crusade to incentivize the legal employment of American workers.

This July, California’s Department of Insurance spearheaded a multi-agency task force similar to undertakings of ICE, DHS, OSC, and SEC. Detectives from the California Department of Insurance (CDI), the Contractors State License Board (CSLB), Employment Development Department (EDD), and County District Attorneys’ offices effectively created their own “Avengers” partnership to make an 11 county sweep across California, resulting in 104 enforcement actions.

US businesses are not strangers to regulatory enforcement. Arguably, complicated regulations on tax, insurance, employment and immigration laws deter the success of small to mid-sized American companies trying to expand into today’s global marketplace. Large corporations avail themselves of depressed wages and lenient international labor regulations by outsourcing labor to under-developed nations. Government regulatory and enforcement agencies like ICE have no jurisdiction to punish large corporations that exploit workers overseas. Consequently, “Avengers,” like the California task force against the underground economy, mostly impact local and domestic companies, often to their demise.

Competing against global-economic influences on a long-term basis in any industry requires strict scrutiny of company hiring policies, employment practices, and compliance with a complex myriad of tax, insurance, and immigration laws. If your business employs a domestic workforce, large or small, contact us to learn more about workforce compliance and subscribe to our blog  for the latest immigration news and updates.

DHS Secretary Roasted By Congressional Committee | Immigration Compliance Group News

Sunday, July 29th, 2012

By:  Timothy Sutton, Communications Editor

Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! is a comedic quiz program on NPR, testing listener’s knowledge of current events against some of the best and brightest in the news world. While figuring out what’s real news versus what’s made up, the show’s host presents a scenario to the contestant to determine if the scenario is fact or fiction. If you weren’t tuned into C-SPAN, you may have legitimately mistaken the House oversight committee’s interview, of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano, as the latest episode of Wait Wait.

In this episode, members of the Congressional oversight committee rapidly fired questions at Napolitano, cutting short her responses, attempting to validate their “real news,” as something more than “made up.” The result, a trial like inquisition reminiscent of the famous scene between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson from A Few Good Men, with Napolitano ceremoniously remarking “you can’t handle the truth!” In reality, with grace and imperturbable resolve, Napolitano slowly roasted over the House Committee’s rotisserie.

Attacks upon the DHS Secretary by Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Conyers (D-MI), and many more; indicated summary judgment has been rendered against the DHS for their approach to immigration enforcement, particularly in the areas of: visa overstays, boarder security, and deferred action. The business community should take note; Napolitano’s significant immigration reforms have yet to satisfy Congressional discontent. Looking forward, expect tighter regulation of business immigration under the guise of immigration overhaul.

Here are some DHS immigration reform highlights Napolitano submitted to Congress:

  • Current DHS immigration reform focuses resources on repeat immigration law violators
  • Numerous improvements were made to welcome business people…staying true to our history as a nation of immigrants
  • Deterring Employment of Aliens not authorized to work by:
  1. Eliminating high-profile raids and focusing on compliance through criminal prosecution of egregious employer violators, Form I-9 inspections, civil fines, and debarment
  2. Since 2009, ICE audited more the 8,079 employers, debarred 726 companies, and imposed $87.9 million in financial sanctions
  • Educated the business population through instituting:
  1. E-Verify with more than 385,000 participants
  2. E-Verify self-check
  • Improving Legal Immigration:
  1. Streamlining path for EB-5 entrepreneurs and clarifying the EB-2 classification
  2. Instituted Entrepreneurs in Residence program and proposed regulatory changes in the Federal Register in April 2012 to minimize delays of family based immigration petitions
  3. Reduced processing of benefit requests through Electronic Immigration System of Registration (ELIS)
  4. Implemented “Study in the States” initiative to attract international students through a streamlined visa process
  • Comprehensive Immigration Reform:
  1. Supporting the Supreme Court’s decision on Section 2(B) of S.B. 1070

Napolitano capped off her remarks on immigration stating, “only a nationwide solution will resolve the challenges posed by the current immigration system.”

Despite the Congress clearly conveying their message to DHS, “Wait wait, don’t tell me, you think you’re doing a good job…” Napolitano’s focus on streamlining existing immigration policies is positive news for US businesses. Until the promise of streamlining comes to fruition, removing your business from the auditing radar, enrolling in E-Verify, and becoming Form I-9 compliant remain immigration best practices.

If you can handle the truth about current immigration policies, subscribe to our blog and stay informed by checking out our I-9 Employer Resource Center and join our LinkedIn Group.