ICE Announces
1,000 New Workplace Audits
On November 19, 2009, US Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary John
Morton announced the issuance of Notices of Inspection to 1,000
employers across the country, alerting business owners that ICE will
audit their hiring records to determine compliance with employment
eligibility verification laws. The 1,000 business served with
audit notices were selected as a result of investigative leads and
intelligence, and because of the business' connection to public
safety and national security. Audits will involve a
comprehensive review of Form I-9s. This announcement is the
latest in a series of notifications from the Department of Homeland
Security regarding workplace enforcement of immigration laws and
regulations.
Arizona Files First Employer Sanctions Case
On November
18, 2009, Maricopa County prosecutors filed Arizona's first employer
sanction case against a business for violating the state law which
prohibits employers from knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. The
case was filed in a civil complaint, indicating that the manager of
Scottsdale Art Factory hired a subcontractor who was an illegal
immigrant, after advising the subcontractor to create a company to
specifically circumvent the law. Federal courts have upheld the
state law in spite of challenges from civil rights groups; however,
the Supreme Court could still consider the challenge this year.
25,000 Additional H-1B On Site Inspections Expected
We have
previously reported that the United States Citizenship and
Immigration Service (USCIS) continues to engage its employees, and in
some cases outside contractors, to conduct site visits of companies
who have submitted petitions for non-immigrant work categories
including H-1Bs and L-1s. ComputerWorld recently reported that
U.S. immigration officials are planning to conduct 25,000 on-site
inspections of companies hiring H-1B workers in this fiscal year, a
move which marks a nearly five-fold increase in inspections over last
fiscal year. Other immigration agencies, including, CBP (Customs and
Border Patrol), and the DOL (US Department of Labor), may also
conduct site visits for immigration related matters, issues regarding
employment authorization, and public access folder for certain types
of non-immigrant categories such as H-1B. These site visits may
occur before or after the approval of the petition. We believe
the visits will occur to confirm the details of the employment listed
in the petition and to determine if any fraud has occurred.
International Students Contribute $17.6B to the US
Economy
The
Association of International Educators has reported that, during the
2008-2009 academic year, international students and their dependents
contributed approximately $17.6 billion to the US economy. This
figure is based on tuition figures, enrollment figures, and living
expenses. The report estimates that nearly $600,000,000 was
contributed by international students to the state of Michigan.
A copy of the report can be found at www.nafsa.org/publicpolicy/default.aspx?id=17174.
Number of International Students in US Higher Education
Reaches All-Time High
The Institute of International Education,
in conjunction with the US Department of State's Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs recently released a report
confirming that the number of international students at colleges and
universities in the United States increased by 8% to an all-time high
of 671,616 in the 2008-2009 academic year. This represents the
largest increase in international student enrollment since
1980. The increase is largely related to the number of
undergraduate students from China. Business and management
remains the most popular field of study for international students,
followed by engineering.
