Immigration Enforcement News

Department of Labor (DOL) News

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a final rule which adopts, with a few changes, the interim final rule of October 8, 2020, amending the regulations pertaining to permanent labor certifications (PERMs) and Labor Condition Applications (LCAs) to incorporate changes to the computation of prevailing wage levels. The rule is slated to go

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Department of Homeland SecurityImmigration Enforcement News

DHS Update

USCIS has published a final rule implementing a number of substantive changes to the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.  The new rule, which will become effective on November 21, 2019, is raising the minimum investment amounts for foreign investors seeking Green Cards from $1 million to $1.8 million, revising the standards for certain targeted employment areas

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Immigration Enforcement News

Immigration Enforcement News

An investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has resulted in a federal grand jury indictment charging 96 people for their alleged roles in a large-scale marriage fraud scheme to illegally obtain admission and immigrant status in the U.S. According to the criminal charges, each beneficiary spouse entered into an agreement

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Immigration Enforcement News

Immigration Enforcement News

The Social Security Administration (SSA) began sending no-match letters to companies who have at least one W-2 employee whose social security number does not match the SSA’s records. Since March 2019, the SSA has issued nearly 600,000 such letters. Receiving a no-match does not necessarily mean that an affected employee is not work authorized; therefore,

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Immigration Enforcement News

Immigration Enforcement News

The US government has significantly ramped up its enforcement efforts in the recent years. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) initiated 6,848 worksite investigations which reflects a more than 300% increase from FY 2017. The number of I-9 employment eligibility verification compliance audits has also increased: nearly 6,000 audits were conducted in

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Immigration Enforcement News

Immigration Enforcement News

The government’s immigration enforcement efforts remain on the rise. The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently reached a settlement with a North Carolina landscaping company. DOJ’s investigation found that Triple H Services LLC (“Triple H”) engaged in discrimination against U.S. workers qualified, available, and willing to accept positions with the

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Immigration Enforcement News

Immigration Enforcement News

A California IT company has settled with the government for over $173,000 at the conclusion of the investigation into the business’s use of the H-1B professional foreign worker program. The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation uncovered that Cloudwick Technologies Inc. (“Cloudwick”) paid its sponsored H-1B workers significantly below the prevailing wages

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Immigration Enforcement News

ICE & DOJ News

Following the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “silent raids” of nearly 100 7-Eleven store locations and several major prosecutions for worksite immigration compliance violations, ICE has recently announced a 3-prong approach to enforcement efforts. The new approach involves (1) Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification compliance audits; (2) investigation and punishment of employers knowingly employing unauthorized

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Immigration Enforcement News

Immigration Fraud

Staffing companies’ owner has been sentenced to 52 months in prison and a $50,000 fine for fraudulent H-1B petitions submission for foreign professionals. According to the court documents, the owner and her spouse filed over 100 H-1B petitions for foreign workers’ placement at nonexistent businesses or businesses that had never received these H-1B workers’ services.

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