29 February 2008
With eight full-time immigration lawyers (three of whom are partners) and nine full-time paralegals, Faegre & Benson has one of the largest business immigration practices in the Upper Midwest. Faegre's immigration compliance team provides unparalleled experience to help advise employers in this era of increased worksite enforcement of immigration laws.
Training. Our immigration lawyers provide expert training to corporate clients across the country in establishing I-9 recordkeeping and immigration compliance procedures. We regularly provide on-site I-9 and immigration compliance training to corporate clients, in addition to telephone and video conference-based training sessions for simultaneous, nationwide training of human resources and administrative personnel.
Human Resources Support and Employee Relations Counseling. Our immigration team regularly advises clients on a “same-day” basis to address I-9, hiring, re-verification and termination issues. In this manner, our corporate clients have immediate access to expert support to help in analyzing documentation, employment eligibility and compliance issues through our prompt response to human resources and other personnel who encounter questions in the hiring or re-verification processes.
Audits and Investigations. Our immigration team advises and represents employers who are subject to I-9 audits. We have extensive experience in aggressively representing corporate clients throughout the country whose I-9's are subject to review or audit before various federal agencies that have the authority to conduct such investigations, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, formerly the INS), the EEOC, the Department of Labor, and other agencies.
Enforcement Actions. Our immigration lawyers are actively representing clients in enforcement actions brought by ICE and U.S. attorneys’ offices around the country. Increasingly, ICE is using the threat of federal criminal prosecution against company owners, managers, supervisors and human resources personnel in their immigration compliance and enforcement actions. We have experience communicating with the many state and federal law enforcement agencies that become involved in the more complex immigration-related investigations and, in the course of defending our corporate clients, we have had extensive contact with the U.S. attorneys’ offices that prosecute these types of cases. In light of this new government strategy, our immigration lawyers regularly coordinate their advice and strategy with that of experienced litigators (including one of our partners who is a former U.S. attorney).
State immigration laws. Faegre & Benson’s immigration team has been heavily engaged in advising employers on the emergence of state and local laws related to employment eligibility and related immigration compliance issues. Laws are already in effect in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and other states. Our immigration team closely tracks state legislative developments across the country, as we advise our clients that have a national presence on state immigration law compliance issues.
Other new developments. Faegre & Benson’s team continues to become engaged in a broader swath of legal issues as the government increases its worksite enforcement activities. We closely monitor the government's Basic Pilot/E-Verify verification program as well as federal legislation, and our immigration team regularly works with clients' government relations and public relations teams in developing materials related to federal or state lobbying efforts on business immigration law matters. Faegre & Benson's immigration team is regularly called upon to address issues involving (a) resolution of identity theft reports; (b) developing and implementing internal investigations of allegations of unlawful conduct; (c) strategies for addressing Social Security "No-Match" notifications; and (d) development of policies and procedures to respond to government audits, unannounced on-site visits, subpoenas, search warrants and related contingencies.
Faegre & Benson U.S. Immigration Compliance Contact: Scott Wright, Tel. 612.766.7772: Scott Wright
RESOURCES
Recent Articles by Faegre & Benson's U.S. Immigration Compliance Team
1. The Development of State Immigration Laws: www.faegre.com/articles/article_2422.aspx
2. Advising and Defending Employers Facing Worksite Enforcement Actions: www.faegre.com/pdf/pdf_38196.asp
3. I-9 Compliance and Employment Eligibility: www.faegre.com/articles/article_2414.aspx and www.faegre.com/articles/article_2415.aspx
4. Balancing Immigration Compliance With Worker Anti-Discrimination Protections: www.faegre.com/articles/article_2416.aspx
5. Update on Homeland Security's Social Security No-Match Rules: www.faegre.com/articles/article_2407.aspx
FAEGRE & BENSON'S ANNUAL BUSINESS IMMIGRATION SEMINAR
Video, power points, articles and presentations from participating representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, this seminar presentation took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 30, 2008 and was attended by corporate client representatives from across the country: Passport to Success: Workplace
Enforcement, the New I-9 and Visas for a Global Workforce
Scott W. Wright
Faegre & Benson LLP
2200 Wells Fargo Center
90 So. 7th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402 USA
Tel. 612.766.7772