Immigration officials have put 30 Tennessee companies on notice that their employment records need to be in order. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched a crackdown on hiring illegal workers in five southeastern states in March.
Nashville immigration attorney Vinh Duong says federal officials aren’t going after the usual targets. Instead of looking for illegal workers at landscape companies, food manufacturers, and construction sites, ICE auditors are going after government contractors.
“Nuclear facilities, military bases, defense facilities, banking and finance – because a lot these sectors contract work out to federal contractors, and they want to make sure these federal contractors are also using e-verify or at least doing their part to hire a legal workforce.”
E-verify is a federal database of social security numbers that is supposed to help companies identify illegal workers. Last year, the federal government started requiring its contractors to use the system. Many have criticized E-verify for not being reliable.
Immigration officials have identified a total of 180 companies in Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi as targets of an employment audit.
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