Posted on 05/15/2010 11:57:50 PM PDT by South40
The government forms that U.S. Customs Commissioner Alan Bersin failed to complete for household employees have been required by law since 1986.
Referred to as the I-9, the employment eligibility form is an outgrowth of immigration legislation from that year that allowed more than 2.5 million immigrants to achieve legal status, while at the same time attempting to tighten the rules for employers.
One question now is whether Bersin will face sanctions, as employers typically do when they don’t comply.
Josie Gonzalez, a Pasadena-based attorney who represents employers in immigration work-site cases, said that to Bersin’s credit, he paid employment taxes on his domestic workers, provided tax forms to the Senate committee examining his confirmation, and said he checked documents to verify their legal status.
“He gets Brownie points for that,” Gonzalez said. “But he didn’t keep the government-prescribed form, and he didn’t complete it in time.”
The I-9’s purpose is to document that new workers are authorized to work in the United States. The employee must attest under penalty of perjury that he or she is a U.S. citizen, a lawful resident or is otherwise eligible to work in the country.
Employers must attest that they have reviewed acceptable forms of identification, including a U.S. passport, driver’s license, birth certificate or permanent resident card, and that they appear to be genuine.
The forms are kept on file by employers, and they can be reviewed by immigration authorities. Employers who do not comply with the I-9 requirement are subject to fines.
Bersin, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego who in the mid-1990s was responsible for a crackdown on illegal immigration, was appointed to the top U.S. Customs and Border Protection post in March. President Barack Obama named him in a recess appointment, and he would not be able to remain in the position beyond late 2011 unless the Senate confirms him.
The I-9 discrepancy came to light this week as part of a Senate Finance Committee hearing on his appointment.
According to a Finance Committee memo, Bersin and his wife, San Diego Superior Court Judge Lisa Foster, employed 10 domestic workers since 1993 but did not “timely or completely” prepare and maintain I-9 forms for them.
Bersin completed an I-9 form for a current employee last year after learning there was a problem, a Homeland Security Department spokesman said, and has retroactively completed I-9s for a previous housekeeper and nanny. Neither he nor Foster was available for comment Friday.
A 1996 amendment to immigration law can provide an out for some employers who complete I-9 forms late if there was a technical or procedural difficulty, Gonzalez said. But federal prosecutors often insist on fining employers anyway.
“The law isn’t clear,” Gonzalez said. “Some employers who complete it late are getting fined, and some are not. It’s technical. And in San Diego, they fine.”
Penalties can exceed $1,000, she said.
The agency that enforces immigration laws in the workplace is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When the agency audits employers for immigration violations, it’s the I-9 forms that are seized, agency spokeswoman Lauren Mack said.
The system is far from foolproof, with employees often presenting fraudulent documents. But the form provides a valuable tool, she said.
“It’s a record-keeping mechanism that is intended to make employers accountable,” Mack said.
Companies that have been audited by ICE know the drill. At shipbuilder NASSCO, audited several years ago as part of a national security program, verifying employees’ documents as required to complete the I-9 is routine.
“It’s a pretty straight-up process,” NASSCO spokesman Karl Johnson said. “It’s just part of the paperwork you fill out.”
Household employees are often hired informally through word-of-mouth, or as in the case of nannies, through an agency.
Although they frequently do criminal background checks, these agencies work as referral services, not employers, said Blanca Rupley, manager of San Diego Nannies. The family is the employer, she said.
Hardly anyone fights so hard to save a buck, as rich liberals.
Why not just hire some old fashioned Americans?
Treasury Secretary cheating on his taxes. U.S. Customs Commissioner not filling out legal work forms. What’s next? Directory of the Centers for Disease Control spreading typhoid? Head of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing running a few twenties on the office copier? Supreme Court nominee expressing disdain for the first amendment... wait a second...
Sad but true.
The government forms that U.S. Customs Commissioner Alan Bersin failed to complete for household employees have been required by law since 1986.
Well dress me up and call me Shirley.
Another law breaker in Barry's Administration.
I think I'm having deja vu 106 all over again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again .....
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