Worksite Enforcement

The Worksite Enforcement (WSE) Unit exercises operational oversight over field investigative activities that target violations relating to the employment of unauthorized aliens. The two major programmatic components under this Unit are 1) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) investigations and traditional worksite enforcement involving the investigation of egregious worksite violators, and 2) Worksite Outreach and Education. The ICE Worksite Outreach and Education program is currently under development and is intended to provide employers with the tools and knowledge that will enable them to hire and maintain a legal workforce.

Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Investigations

CIP investigations are generally predicated upon the threat to national security posed by unauthorized workers employed in critical infrastructure-related facilities and do not necessarily target specific employer violations. The goal of CIP investigations is to reduce the vulnerabilities of the nation’s critical infrastructure and key assets to future terrorist attacks. Critical infrastructure has been defined as systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, that are so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, and/or any combination of those matters.

Worksite Enforcement (WSE) Investigations

Worksite Enforcement investigations focus on egregious employers involved in criminal activity or worker exploitation. This type of employer violation will often involve alien smuggling, document fraud, human rights abuses and/or other criminal or substantive administrative immigration or customs violations having a direct nexus to the employment of unauthorized workers. Worksite investigations also encompass employers who are subjecting unauthorized alien workers to substandard or abusive working conditions. Also included in these types of investigations are employers who utilize force, threat, or coercion, such as threats to have employees deported in order to keep the unauthorized alien workers from reporting the substandard wage or working conditions.

Report suspected illegal worksite enforcement related information by calling toll free: 1-866-DHS-2-ICE

ICE is working to combat unlawful employment and share the responsibility of minimizing vulnerabilities through a collaborative partnership program called ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE).

  Last Modified: