Immigrant and Employee Rights Section

How Does IER Protect Your Rights?  View this 5-minute video.

The Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), enforces the anti-discrimination provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1324b. Regulations for this law are found at 28 C.F.R. Part 44.

This federal law prohibits: 1) citizenship status discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, 2) national origin discrimination in hiring, firing, or recruitment or referral for a fee, 3) unfair documentary practices during the employment eligibility verification, Form I-9 and E-Verify, and 4) retaliation or intimidation.

If you feel you have suffered one of these forms of discrimination, click here to file a charge or call our Worker Hotline: 1-800-255-7688.

If you are an employer with questions about the anti-discrimination provision of the INA, call our Employer Hotline: 1-800-255-8155.

Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative

The Civil Rights Division’s Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, started in 2017 in the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER), targets, investigates, and (where appropriate) brings enforcement actions against employers that intentionally discriminate against U.S. workers due to a preference for temporary visa workers.  IER has reached numerous settlements under the Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative, and employers have distributed or agreed to pay a combined total of more than $1.2 million in back pay to affected U.S. workers and civil penalties to the United States.  These settlements involve employers that discriminated in their use of the H-1B, H-2A, and H-2B visa programs. 

Call IER at 1-800-255-7688 if you believe you have information about an employer that discriminated against qualified U.S. workers by preferring temporary visa workers.

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