ICE Announces Audit of 1,000 Workplaces: Focus is on Critical Infrastructure

ICE Announces Audit of 1,000 Workplaces: Focus is on Critical Infrastructure

ICE Director John Morton announced on November 19, 2009 that the agency would be issuing Notices of Inspection (NOI) to 1,000 U.S. employers that are "associated with critical infrastructure."  These companies "were selected for inspection as a result of investigative leads and intelligence and because of the business' connection to public safety and national security -- for example, privately owned critical infrastructure and key resources," according to the agency press release.
 
This follows on an ICE announcement in July 2009 of Notices of Inspection to 654 businesses in a variety of industries.  Yesterday's release provided some interesting statistics on the results so far of the July 2009 audits:
 
ICE agents reviewed more than 85,000 Form I-9s and identified more than 14,000 suspect documents - approximately 16 percent of the total number reviewed.

To date, 61 NIFs have been issued, resulting in $2,310,255 in fines. In addition, 267 cases are currently being considered for Notices of Intent to Fine (NIFs).

ICE closed 326 cases after businesses were found to be in compliance with employment laws or after businesses were served with a Warning Notice in expectation of future compliance.

As noted in our previous Alert, ICE has traditionally sought Forms I-9 under its statutory and regulatory subpoena power, and then requested that companies voluntarily produce additional employee and corporate information.  There is no requirement, however, that companies produce this additional information, and it would be prudent for a company that receives a NOI to consult with counsel before voluntarily producing documents to ICE.