Overview
- ICE, which updated its Form I‑9 Inspection Fact Sheet on March 16, expanded finable “substantive” violations to 28 categories and moved more than 10 former technical mistakes into that group.
- Substantive violations now draw $288 to $2,861 in civil fines per form based on an employer’s overall error rate, and fixing mistakes after an inspection starts does not erase liability.
- Failures in remote document checks and flaws in electronic I‑9 systems count as substantive violations, including missing audit trails, weak e‑signature protocols, or lacking required DHS security documentation.
- JD Supra reports ICE has skipped the usual Notice of Suspect Documents in some cases and has used audit files to seek criminal warrants and removal referrals, even when hires cleared E‑Verify.
- Legal analyses say the new fact sheet effectively replaced the 1997 Virtue Memorandum without a transition period, and they urge employers to run internal audits, tighten document review, and note that keeping ID copies does not cure missing form fields.