Angelo Paparelli Published in the New York Law Journal
“Minimizing Immigration Risks From Service Providers

Angelo Paparelli co-authored the article, "Minimizing Immigration Risks From Service Providers," published June 29, 2009 in the New York Law Journal. In the article, Angelo discusses how U.S. employers have taken more aggressive steps to mind the hiring practices of their fraternal business compatriots, in order to avoid immigration liability. He explains that many employers are requiring contractual assurances of immigration compliance, demanding third-party audits of vendors' immigration practices, and terminating service contracts with noncompliant providers. According to the authors, the Immigration Reform and Contol Act of 1986 (IRCA) heralded a comprehensive regime of employer responsibility and liability for the hiring of new workers who the employer knows lack the legal right of employment in the United States. They further note, “It deputized employers to enforce federal immigration law by commanding that businesses examine a new hire's documents of identity and employment eligibility within three days of the start of work."

The article continues on to explain the pattern of contractual enforcement that emerged from IRCA. The authors note that, today, “[l]arge U.S.-based companies, especially those with sophisticated vendor management systems, are increasingly using their economic bargaining power to mandate the inclusion of cram-down provisions in contracts with vendors and suppliers requiring full-throated representations, warranties and covenants attesting to immigration compliance by the contractor and each of its subs." He concludes, “Corporations with substantial bargaining power in a dysphoric global economy face little difficulty in finding vendors willing to agree to extensive immigration-compliance provisions in contracts for services. Vendors, like any other employer with direct hires, certainly have reason to be proactive in complying with U.S. immigration laws, given the Obama administration's recently announced worksite enforcement strategy that focuses more on the criminal and civil prosecution of employers who violate immigration, employment and work-safety laws than on the removal of unauthorized workers.”