ICE Memo: Guidance on Civil Inspections of the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (Form I-9) During Labor Disputes

Matt Ginsburg writes: "I attach ICE's "Guidance on Civil Inspections of the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (Form I-9) During Labor Disputes," which the AFL-CIO just obtained from ICE through a FOIA request that we filed earlier this year. This Guidance replaces Operating Instruction 287.3a ("the O.I."), which many advocates have used over the years as a basis for requesting that ICE not take enforcement actions during an ongoing labor dispute.

We are very pleased that this important policy is now in the public domain, although we are very disappointed that it took a FOIA request, aggressive advocacy with DHS and ICE, and congressional pressure to persuade ICE to release an updated version of a document that has been publicly available for two decades.

We plan to continue to advocate with DHS and ICE to continue to improve this Guidance and similar policies intended to avoid immigration enforcement from interfering with workers' ability to exercise their protected workplace rights. Feel free to contact me with any questions."

Matt Ginsburg
Associate General Counsel
AFL-CIO
815 Sixteenth Street NW
Washington, DC 20006
(202) 637-5397
mginsburg@aflcio.org