Trump administration’s immigration push comes for employers

As part of the Trump administration’s stated push to eliminate illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has substantially increased investigations of employers suspected of employing undocumented workers. The investigations are an attempt by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to meet new quotas for inspecting employers’ documentation of workers’ immigration status.

The inspections of I-9s can be a precursor to workplace raids and have been a method for detaining undocumented workers without judicial warrants. With a substantial increase in workplace raids, employers need to be prepared for ICE workplace inspections and subsequent raids.

Workplace raids increase

After Trump Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ordered senior ICE officials to increase arrests of undocumented immigrants to 3,000 per day, workplace raids increased substantially. Although President Trump indicated that the federal government would back off raids on farms and hospitality workers, DHS quickly reversed the guidance. The president also ordered ICE to expand their efforts in Democratic-led cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.