It is not just the incursions in the workplace. I-9 electronics manipulated could be a threat of expensive immigration for entrepreneurs under Trump.

President Donald Trump has not bitten words about his plan to end illegal immigration, and entrepreneurs take note. The administration has begun the incursions in the workplace and the interest groups predict an increase in the i-9s form, the documents used to verify if an employee is eligible to work in the United States

In the days following the inauguration of Trump, however, the voices of the immigration compliance community have been increasingly alarmed about a vulnerability of which many entrepreneurs can puzzle: their sellers of form I-9.

Form I-9 goes online

Compliance with form I-9 involves multiple variables, one of which is how the form is filled. Both employers and employees must complete some sections of the form. Traditionally, a representative of the employer sits with a new contract in person to collect and review the documents of the employee who establish the authorization of identity and employment, which may include a combination of a Government ID, a passport, a green card or similar items.

But some aspects of the process have become more electronic in recent years, thanks in part to the Covid-19 pandemic. By 2020, United States immigration and customs application allowed employers temporarily reviewing the authorization documents remotely. ICE made the remote authorization a permanent option for the electronic verification of participants in good condition in 2023.

The electronic solutions that help with the completion and conservation of Form I-9 records had also become more and more common before the pandemic, according to David Adams, executive of accounts of the Safesthires Fund Verification Provider, which does not have their own I-9 product. These tools, offered by vendors of human resources information systems, law firms and other third parties, are sold to the premise of streamlining what can be an intensive process in time and resources for entrepreneurs.

Adams and others who spoke to RRHH Dive said they are worried after seeing several platforms producing I-9 electronics that do not meet federal regulations, opening the potential of infractions that the Trump administration is likely to discover.

A two -part problem

There are two main areas of concern for human resources teams, said Adams. The first is that I-9 sellers software can prepare some sections of form I-9, such as an employee’s biographical information.

By joint orientation by the ICE and the United States Department of Justice, entrepreneurs who use Form I-9 software programs may not be reope Employee’s work request. Entrepreneurs also cannot complete an I-9 on behalf of an employee, unless they help the employee to complete Section 1 of the form, where employees enter their information and their declaration-as a trainer or translator.

The second area of ​​concern is the I-9 paper form that have been placed with the electronic signature of an employee through a software program. The problem is that the use of an electronic signature requires fulfillment of a number of National Security Department standards separated from those who apply to I-9 paper, and this could let employers be Indeed of compliance.

Although I-9 sellers are unlikely intentionally published unsuspecting products, Adams said, it is not enough to rely on the insistence of a seller that a product fulfills. Human resources teams, he said, need to ask the right questions and cannot take compliance; “You have to look at your system.”

In fact, the additional measures of compliance needed for digital forms are endless. On the one hand, DHS regulations require entrepreneurs to maintain “audit trails” of electronic i-9, which are records that show what actions have been taken with respect to a specific form, said Chris Thomas, a member of Holland. & Hart. And even when a seller has a trace of audit, the quality of these trails may not be enough to fulfill the DHS standards, he added.

DHS regulations also state that entrepreneurs must implement an electronic record security program that:

• Ensures that only authorized staff have access to electronic records.
• It provides a backup and recovery of records to protect the loss of information, such as during power interruptions.
• Ensures that employees are formed to minimize the risk of unauthorized or accidental alteration or erasure of electronic records.
• Ensure -Whenever you believe, end, update, modify, modify or correct electronic registration, a safe and permanent record that establishes the access date, the identity of the individual who accessed the electronic registration is created and the particular action performed.

The employee’s attestation can also create compliance problems. DHS requires electronic systems used to capture a question to include a method that can show that the employee has signed and read the attestation. The signature must be added at the time of the transaction and the system must create and preserve a record that verifies the signator’s identity.

But Thomas said that several I-9 electronic systems that he has reviewed do not include this certification. This requirement could be fulfilled, in part, with a small box that an employee can check to claim that they have read the attestation and introduced their signature. “Laws are clear that if they do not have this, there are no I-9 at all in the eyes of DHS,” added Thomas. “Many sellers do not have this certification.”

The Federal Agencies of application of the Law have previously taken actions against entrepreneurs through electronic systems not in accordance with form I-9. Adams stated that in 2010, the retailer fined Ice Abercrombie and Fitch more than $ 1 million compared to the deficiencies related to technology in the company’s I-9 verification system.

Adams said that the similar application of the Trump administration could be expensive for employers. On January 2, DHS detailed the civilian penalty penalty adjustments for inflation in which the penalty for forms violations of form I-9 increased from $ 2,789 for rape up to $ 2,861 for violation.

“If you do not meet, you will pay so much money,” said Adams.

“Everyone is on the cross here”

Address lawyers who spoke with the immersion of human resources largely coincided that the electronic fulfillment of Form I-9 is a concern for entrepreneurs under Trump. Thomas said he has talked to ICE agents who have confirmed the agency’s intention to follow application actions against entrepreneurs that their electronic sellers of the I-9 form are out of compliance.

The ICE did not respond to several comments on their plans for electronic compliance application for Form I-9.

On the first day of Trump’s second term, only several executive orders were seen to reduce illegal immigration, including an order that declares an emergency on the United States-Mexico border and another aimed at preventing migration and resetty. Massive. A separate order, “protecting the North -American people against the invasion”, directs DHS to “take all appropriate actions to significantly increase the number of officers and officers available to carry out the functions of immigration officers”.

The latter of these items may be especially important, since the limited number of agents at their disposal for I-9 audits between the 30 National Regional Security Safety Research of the ICE, said Thomas. He said that the agency has worked with on -site contractors to speed up the rate of large -scale audits and could instit quotas for this purpose.

“They will do everything to break the magnet of employment in the United States,” said Thomas. “Everyone is on the crosses here.”

The risk that there is I-9 Audit Search Errors exists, even if an employee is authorized to work in the United States, Doug Kauffman, Balch and Bingham partner, said because a system can still be consider that it does not meet.

What to do now

Human resources teams need to take the initiative and ensure that their sellers are aware of DHS ‘regulations, Kauffman said; “Ice will not leave you out of the hook.”

It may also be worth a step further: “Entrepreneurs should not assume that their software solution complies with,” said Eileen Lohmann, a senior associate of the Bal law firm. “It is really important to independently veto all the electronic solutions they use to ensure that it complies with the regulations. It will always be the entrepreneur who is responsible for the errors of their I -9 form.”

To help entrepreneurs choose from different proposals from I-9 sellers, Kauffman said “he is always looking at irrigation each time”, as this is what the ice will focus on evaluating entrepreneurs. He also said that he will focus on what the sellers will do when their customers are audited by ice and what their processes and procedures are to ensure that customers have access to the materials that the ice will ask for, including the audit trails, in a period of three working days.

“If we cannot provide it to the ice, it does not do very well,” Kauffman said.

Lohmann said entrepreneurs should consider the process of a seller in case of audit. He also said that entrepreneurs will do an internal i-9 audit to understand what the ice could find. This could involve looking through an I-9 subset with or without the assistance of an external lawyer. “Even a smaller review can allow an entrepreneur to be corrected and reducing the risk of exposure forward,” said Lohmann.