President Trump’s Executive Action – A Recommendation to All Employers to Audit their I-9 forms

As the President issued a number of Executive Orders, one of the Executive Orders entitled “Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States” dated January 25, 2017 states in part as follows:

>>Sec. 6.  Civil Fines and Penalties.  As soon as practicable, and by no later than one year after the date of this order, the Secretary shall issue guidance and promulgate regulations, where required by law, to ensure the assessment and collection of all fines and penalties that the Secretary is authorized under the law to assess and collect from aliens unlawfully present in the United States and from those who facilitate their presence in the United States. [Emphasis added]<<

Please find the full text here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/25/presidential-executive-order-enhancing-public-safety-interior-united [last accessed 01/27/2017]

This mandate presumably includes the agency’s fresh look at the collection of possible civil fines and penalties that can be levied against US employers who fail to properly document that their employees are authorized to work in the US.

Every US employer knows, or should know, that the employer has the duty to verify the identity and employment authorization of every employee. Detailed information concerning the proper completion of the mandatory form I-9 can be found here: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central

The civil money penalties for violations are listed in INA section 274A(e)(4) and range from $250 up to $10,000 per employee for who a violation is detected.

The minimum length that employers must store and retain the I-9 forms can be easily calculated using this form: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/retain-store-form-i-9/retaining-form-i-9

US employers who have not recently reviewed their personnel records and I-9 forms, should take this Executive Order as an important reminder and incentive to conduct an internal I-9 audit right away to ensure that they are in compliance or become compliant right away.