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Immigration Reform: Status of Implementing Employer Sanctions After Second Year

GGD-89-16 Published: Nov 15, 1988. Publicly Released: Nov 15, 1988.
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Highlights

In response to a legislative requirement, GAO surveyed implementation and enforcement of the Immigration Reform and Control Act's (IRCA) employer sanction provisions to determine whether the: (1) Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and other federal agencies satisfactorily carried out IRCA; and (2) provisions caused a widespread pattern of discrimination against U.S. citizens or others or created an unnecessary regulatory burden on employers.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Justice The Attorney General should direct the Commissioner, INS, to revise the guidance to INS investigators to require them to follow reasonable steps, such as requesting employer payroll records, to determine if all required I-9 forms have been prepared.
Closed – Implemented
INS has not revised its field manual, but sent out a wire instructing field agents to check auxillary records during I-9 compliance reviews. The wire is binding until the manual is revised.
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should direct the Wage and Hour Division and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to ensure that reasonable steps, such as reviewing employer records, are taken to determine if all required I-9 forms have been prepared.
Closed – Implemented
The training manual was revised in December 1988. Field manual changes were issued in August 1989.
Department of Justice The Attorney General should direct the Special Counsel to develop, in conjunction with other federal agencies, including EEOC, INS, and DOL, a coordinated strategy to educate the public about the IRCA antidiscrimination provision and develop a plan for carrying out the strategy, including a budget. OSC should submit this information to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget for consideration during the federal budget process because no specific appropriation exists for education and more than one agency is involved.
Closed – Implemented
In November 1989, P.L. 101-162 was enacted which provided OSC $1 million for education.
Department of Justice The Attorney General should direct the Commissioner, INS, to modify the General Administrative Plan to measure compliance at the beginning of the inspection.
Closed – Not Implemented
The information system needed to fully carry out this recommendation has not been implemented. As an interim measure, INS has modified its data collection form to capture this information. The GAO report recommends implementation of the needed information system. Therefore, this recommendation can be better tracked by monitoring the recommendation in the third annual report.
Department of Justice The Attorney General should direct the Commissioner, INS, to begin systematically evaluating data on the extent to which unauthorized aliens are using counterfeit or fraudulent documents to complete the I-9 form, including the types of documents used.
Closed – Implemented
INS has made document fraud a priority, but the data that will be gathered has not been fully determined. GAO intent of raising the issue to an agency priority has been achieved.

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Topics

Immigrant laborEmployment discriminationImmigration enforcementImmigration and naturalization lawInspectionLabor lawLaw enforcementReporting requirementsSanctionsSurveys