Immigration enforcement is here to stay. The Bush Administration was successful in dramatically increasing the number of law enforcement personnel devoted to immigration enforcement. The statistics demonstrate that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) enforcement strategy is generating positive results. Arrests of immigration violators are up, as are criminal investigations and indictments.

Regardless of the presidential election outcome, the new Administration cannot be viewed as “soft” on immigration enforcement. The Executive Branch must be seen to be vigorously enforcing immigration law at the border and in the interior if Congress is to consider meaningful immigration reform in the future. As a result, employers can expect to be the target of continuing enforcement efforts, and the DHS will continue to use all enforcement tools at its disposal. Further, the current state of the economy will likely lead to protectionist measures toward U.S. workers. What better evidence than to make sure that U.S. authorized workers are the ones working in U.S. jobs.

Because of its past successes, the DHS is likely to continue focusing its enforcement efforts upon key, “targeted” industries that have historically employed significant numbers of legal and illegal immigrants. Thus, employers in agriculture, construction, food processing, hospitality, and textiles will continue to be subject to heightened enforcement scrutiny. In addition, because the DHS perceives that there is a high correlation between terrorism and illegal immigration, enforcement efforts will continue to focus upon critical infrastructure, (e.g., military bases, airports, ports and harbors, nuclear power plants, water treatment facilities, etc.).


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