We now are in President Obama's second term, and still little
progress has been made on an issue clearly important to the roofing
industry—immigration. Roofing workers are scarce, and without
a reliable source of workers, many contractors are faced with the
risk of hiring undocumented workers.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act requires employers to
verify employees' identities and employment eligibility; the
Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 is the primary means
of documenting this verification. Employers who fail to properly
complete I-9 forms are subject to civil fines ranging from $110 to
$1,100 per paperwork error violation.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is an investigative
branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charged with
enforcing U.S. immigration and customs laws. ICE was created in
2003, and it assumed the responsibility of enforcing the
immigration laws from the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
commonly known as INS.
ICE verifies employer compliance with I-9 requirements by
conducting inspection audits, which are initiated by serving a
Notice of Inspection to an employer compelling him or her to
produce I-9 documents. I-9 audits are a critical component in ICE's
work-site...
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