U.S. companies are facing a growing wave of federal scrutiny as the Trump administration intensifies its immigration enforcement strategy through widespread audits of employment verification documents. The surge in audits is part of a broader push to remove undocumented immigrants and enforce hiring regulations more aggressively than ever before.
While public attention has largely focused on high-profile raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, business leaders and legal experts say the real pressure lies in the expanding audits of Form I-9, the federal document employers must complete to verify a worker’s eligibility to work in the U.S.
Human resources executives, immigration attorneys, and compliance officers describe the current environment as “I-9 hell,” with companies scrambling to locate, correct, and prepare documents in anticipation of Notices of Inspection (NOIs) from ICE. Businesses under audit are typically given only three days to submit I-9 forms and supporting documentation for all current employees.
Even minor errors—such as missing checkboxes or incomplete fields—can result in fines starting at $2,861 per violation, and in some cases, criminal charges for company executives. In April, ICE fined three Denver-based businesses more than $8 million for employing unauthorized workers, and in June, a San Diego manager received probation after pleading guilty to knowingly hiring undocumented staff.
The audits, once typically delivered by mail, are now increasingly being delivered in person. In May, ICE agents visited multiple Washington, D.C., restaurants to launch surprise audits, sending shockwaves through the business community.
“Just when we thought it couldn’t get worse—it did,” said John Mazzeo, associate general counsel at job screening firm Vertical Screen, which has seen a record spike in demand for audit support services.
According to immigration attorneys, ICE’s enforcement strategy appears to have expanded beyond small service-sector businesses to include tech firms and startups. One HR executive at an Atlanta-based tech company said their self-audit revealed numerous employees with expired Employment Authorization Documents (EADs), leading to terminations and operational disruptions.
ICE officials say the campaign is intended to ensure companies are hiring a legal workforce. A White House spokesperson stated that recent enforcement actions have led to the “rescue of migrant children” and the arrest of a convicted sex offender, highlighting the administration’s broader public safety agenda.
However, critics argue the audits are overly punitive and chaotic, especially in the absence of updated federal data or a clear pattern in enforcement. ICE does not regularly publish audit statistics, leaving employers to rely on industry chatter and legal networks to anticipate potential inspections.
Shaun Staller, an immigration lawyer at Obermayer, said he has observed a substantial uptick in audit activity since President Trump returned to office. Analysts note that while workplace audits also surged during Trump’s previous term—with a 374% increase between 2017 and 2019—the current campaign is even more expansive.
Employers also point to added confusion from the Trump administration’s rollback of Biden-era protections for migrants from conflict-ridden countries, which has rendered many previously valid documents obsolete, particularly for workers from Haiti.
The I-9 form itself is notoriously complex, requiring careful navigation of over 50 document combinations for proof of identity and authorization. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services provides an eight-page manual just to explain the four-page form.
“It would be shocking to find a company with 1,000 employees that hasn’t had to question the validity of some documents,” Mazzeo noted, citing the heightened scrutiny and prevalence of forged paperwork.
As the Trump administration continues its aggressive approach to immigration enforcement, employers across sectors are bracing for what they view as an increasingly unpredictable and costly compliance landscape.
