ICE isn’t knocking down doors, it’s auditing paperwork

Immigration enforcement has shifted in a way that’s unlikely to make headlines but can still create real exposure for medical practices: less emphasis on dramatic workplace raids and more attention to employer compliance, especially documentation tied to hiring and visa sponsorship.

Katie P. Russell, a partner at Brown Immigration Law, said the trend shows up in nuts-and-bolts issues such as Form I-9 completion, record retention and staying aligned with the terms of visa petitions — the kind of “compliance-driven” scrutiny that rarely grabs “clicks,” but can lead to significant fines if practices are unprepared.

Physicians Practice: Since October, what are the most significant changes you’ve seen in the way ICE enforcement is being directed, and how it’s affecting medical practices; and businesses overall?

Katie Russell: Clearly, there have been many changes and lots of media coverage of the various new ways that ICE has been utilized. Now, luckily for medical practices, not a lot of fireworks going on here. I would say that the biggest shift we've seen is really more towards employer-focused enforcement issues, so less about dramatic raids and more about scrutinizing compliance documentation. It's a real snoozer. There's not a lot of stuff that the media covers with this, because it really doesn't get the clicks, but things like I-9 form completion, making sure the forms are done accurately, record retention, and visa petition adherence if you've got non-citizens that are working with you on work visas.

With the I-9 form, sometimes I'll talk to employers and they're like, "Oh, I'm not familiar with that." And I'm like, "Well, that might be an issue. Please ensure that you have an admin or HR that is working on those." The form I-9 is required for all employees, regardless of immigration status, and yes, U.S. citizens must also complete them. Even a small technical error on that little form, or an outdated policy, using the wrong edition, not completing the paperwork properly, that can trigger exposure.

Now, I-9 audits, they're very rare, but I have received many a panicked call from local businesses that say, "Hey, I got this weird notice. I have three days to turn in all my I-9s and supporting paperwork. I don't know what this is and what do I do?" We can still try to address things in that three-day period, but the best recommendation I have is, look, you want to be proactive. This might not be the most exciting thing, but do internal I-9 audits quarterly. I'm in charge of our I-9 binder. We've seen enough horror stories come across that we really just encourage employers and HR departments, admins, whoever it is, just make sure you're documenting the I-9 paperwork and supporting documentation. You want to have that done and taken care of. Make it part of your standard onboarding, because let me tell you, the fines and penalties can be substantial if a practice is not being proactive and doesn't have all that lined up.

So the practical takeaway is, it's not so much dramatic enforcement operations being launched on practices. It's really administrative, so it's compliance-driven, not operationally disruptive, but it is still good to make sure that you're in a good position.