Overview
- ICE, which updated its I‑9 inspection fact sheet on March 16, expanded the list of errors that trigger fines without a chance to fix them.
- Newly fineable mistakes include a missing date of birth, undated Section 1 or Section 2 signatures, a blank hire date, absent preparer or translator details, missing document data even when copies are kept, and use of the Spanish form outside Puerto Rico.
- Fines reported by legal analysts range from $288 to $2,861 per form, and auditors can raise the penalty when a higher share of sampled I‑9s contain errors.
- The reclassification departs from the 1997 Virtue memo that treated many of these issues as correctable, and attorneys expect Administrative Procedure Act challenges even as enforcement continues.
- Employers are being urged to run internal I‑9 audits, train staff, and verify electronic systems for audit trails, e‑signature rules, and correct use of the remote verification checkbox to cut exposure.