Hiring immigrants in the United States of America

HIRING IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Summary: Stephenie Overma, in her article Avoiding Immigration Audits, published in HRMagazine on January 2011, clearly shows employers the importance of being within the law when it comes to hiring immigrants in the United States. The author gives an example of what might happen if an employer gets audited by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the results show anything off the law- for instance, companies could end up with monetary fines, such as a fine of $1.04 million for violations of the law in a case of Abercrombie & Fitch. Overma also states that there are several ways for any employer to reduce the risk of hiring employees who might present fraudulent documents or are not authorized to work; one of such ways is for the company to enroll and use E-Verify, a web-based government program used to check the employees' eligibility to work in the United States; however, E-Verify does not detect nor verify identity theft, but is a good start for employers if they want to make sure that the employee is legally allowed to work in the country. There is also a Government Program named IMAGE - the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers - designed to help employers in certain sectors develop a more secure and stable workforce and to enhance awareness of fraudulent documents through education and training. This program is intended as a mean of educating managers on how to comply with the immigration law. Both of this tools E-Verify and IMAGE, are available for employers and are intended to be used as a way of minimizing the risk of hiring unauthorized employees in their companies, thus being able to observe and follow the law.

HIRING IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Application and Analysis: Taking into consideration only the Hispanic or Latino race in the US which among many other minorities have a high rate of unauthorized employees - , and according to the United States Bureau of Labor and its 2012 Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity, 2011 report (2012), 15 percent of the labor force in 2011 was Hispanic or Latino (p. 1). This is clearly a large number and is growing very fast; thus, making the labor force in the United States more and more diverse with every passing year. This situation is a challenge for many employers and their companies; qualified labor force is highly demanded and businesses want to make sure they have the most skilled workers on their payroll. And sometimes, unauthorized employees know this, and knowingly fake their identities so they could end up having the perfect job. However, and according to Steingold, F. (2007) the United States Federal Immigration Laws prohibit employers from hiring aliens who dont have government authorization to work in the United States (p. 34). But fortunately, employers can follow certain steps to make sure employees meet the laws requirements. The first step is to verify the identity and employment authorization of each person they hire, by completing and retaining the Employment Eligibility Verification Form, known as I-9 form and carefully examining whatever documents the prospect employee presents as proof of lawful status it is the employers duty to verify and determine if the documents appear valid (Steingold, F 2007). The I-9 form needs to be completed for each and every employee that is hired; it also has to be kept in the companys files for up to three years after the employee ceased to work for his or her employer. If a company is

HIRING IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

selected to be audited by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the I-9 forms are among the first documents that are going to be required by the ICE officials. Once the employer and the employee have completed the I-9, the employer should verify it using the E-Verify tool, that according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, is an Internet-based system that compares information from an employee's Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to data from U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility. The previous are some of the steps that can be taken in order to ensure the hiring of legal employees in any company in the United States; however, since I am from Venezuela, and currently not authorized by the US Government to legally work, I could only take this knowledge and use it as a valuable asset in my academic training, in the hope that in one day, when Im working as a HR Manager, I would be able to rightfully comply with the Law and ensure that my company meets the legal requirements.

HIRING IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

References Overman, S. (2011, January). Avoiding Immigration Audits. HRMagazine, 56(1), 57-59. Retrieved February 5, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document (Bohlander, 2010)ID: 2219805791). Steingold, F. (2007). The Employers Legal Handbook (8th edition). Berkeley, CA: Nolo. United States Bureau of Labor (2012, August). Labor Force Characteristics by Race and Ethnicity, 2011. Retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics website http://www.bls.gov/cps/demographics.htm#race U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (2012, July). What is E-Verify?. Retrieved from USCIS website http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?v gnextoid=e94888e60a405110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e94888e 60a405110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD