I-9 audits on the rise: What employers can expect from ICE inspectors.

• Position: Nuts & Bolts

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is ramping up its efforts to ensure everyone who works in the United States is authorized to do so. Audits of employers' I-9 records are ICE's primary compliance tool.

THE LAW The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 requires employers to have each new employee complete an I-9 form documenting the employee's eligibility to legally work in the United States. The I-9, which asks for various forms of identification, must be completed on the employee's first day of work.

Employers also have the option of using the online E-Verify system (www.e-verify.gov), which checks employee identity information against government data to find inconsistencies or cases where multiple people have used the same identification.

WHAT'S NEW ICE's Homeland Security Investigations unit has sent out more than 5,200 Notices of Inspection--NOIs for short--to employers across the country. HSI is issuing NOIs at a rate of more than 8,000 per year. Already, 2018 figures have smashed the previous record high of around 3,100 in 2013.

In federal fiscal year...