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Keith Covington practices labor and employment, immigration, and construction law in the firm’s Birmingham office. He counsels employers on a wide variety of topics, including labor relations, union avoidance, equal employment opportunity, OSHA compliance, disability accommodation, non-compete agreements, and issues relating to employee discipline and termination. His immigration practice includes worksite compliance and obtaining employer-based non-immigrant and immigrant visas for foreign national employees.

ICE Capades: Worksite Immigration Enforcement SurgesWorksite enforcement actions related to unauthorized workers are on the rise. Fulfilling a promise from 2017, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigatory arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has significantly ramped up its efforts to clamp down on the employment of unauthorized workers. ICE’s recently released statistics for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 show

The Iceman Cometh: Worksite Immigration Enforcement on the Rise, So Check Your I-9sAs the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration proceeds on numerous fronts, employers increasingly find themselves caught in the crosshairs. In fact, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that it commenced approximately twice as many worksite investigations and I-9 audits in the first seven months of FY2018 (which began on October 1, 2017)

Well, He Wrote Me a Letter: USCIS Provides Update on Initiatives under the “Buy American and Hire American” Executive OrderIn April 2017, three months after taking office, President Trump signed the “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order, which confirmed that his administration would be taking a tough stance on business immigration, including the nonimmigrant work visa programs used by many American employers. The Executive Order itself did not put into action

Getting a Green Card Just Got Tougher: USCIS Will Now Interview All Employment-Based Adjustment of Status Applicants   The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced a new policy requiring all adjustment of status applicants seeking employment-based green cards to appear for an interview at a USCIS field office. The adjustment of status application is the final step in the green card process for foreign non-immigrant employees looking to move to permanent

The Demise of DACA – What It Means for EmployersThe Trump administration has announced that it will end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which has provided removal protection (i.e., from deportation) and temporary work permits to nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children. The move, which was opposed by many employers, ends speculation about the fate of the

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a new version of the Employment Eligibility Verification, Form I-9 that employers will need to start using soon. As all employers know, the I-New I-9 (And We Are Not Talking About Bingo) – Employers Should Look For New Form by September 189 is the form used to verify employee work authorization. Employers may begin using the new Form I-9 (revision date 07/17/17) immediately, although

Diverse coworkersAs the 100-day mark of President Trump’s tenure approaches, it’s clear that the new administration intends to take a tough, aggressive approach to immigration enforcement – and employers are sure to feel the heat. The President has already taken a number of measures designed to strengthen employer compliance with the H-1B and other legal work

Definition "discrimination"If you thought it would be safer to require every new hire to be an American citizen—think again. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has a new rule revising its prior regulations on Section 274B of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which prohibits unfair immigration-related employment practices. This new rule, effective January

What Employers Can Expect from the New Administration – Part 2: Immigration, the Affordable Care Act & Social IssuesIn our second in a three-part series on what to expect from the Trump administration, we discuss immigration policy and the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as what may be in store for parental leave, marriage equality and transgender bathrooms.

1. Immigration

During the campaign, Mr. Trump signaled that his administration would take a