Prepare Your Business for Increased ICE Interactions

Immigration attorney Kathleen Walker explains the differences between inspections and raids, highlights common mistakes made by crews, and stresses the need for regular training, documentation, and legal consultation to ensure compliance and reduce risks during enforcement actions. Watch a video of the whole interview.

Transcript:

 "A coordination that we haven't seen in the past, and so some of these officers may not really be trained in any kind of immigration compliance."

Welcome to the Pro Remodeler Podcast. I'm Dan Morrison, and today we're gonna begin coverage of ice raids on job sites. A stronger crackdown on undocumented immigrants, resulting from immigration policy changes, has rocked the United States. In 2025, under controversial direction from the Trump administration, immigration and customs enforcement agents have increased inspections throughout the country.

Amplified deportations squeeze the labor pool

Multiple labor industries have felt the effects of this, including the remodeling industry in a time of such uncertainty. Knowing what to do in the event of an inspection can make all the difference. Having a plan in place is crucial in order to maintain the safety of your crew and the protection of your company.

To discuss these issues, we sat down with Kathleen Walker. Campbell Walker is a partner at Dickinson Wright Law firm with 40 years of experience in immigration practice, serving primarily in business immigration. She's a former national president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Currently serves as an emeritus member of the Board of Governors and is board-certified by the Texas Bar.

During the conversation, she provided some general information on the inspections, common mistakes crews make, and the importance of having a plan and safeguards in place. During the conversation, she provided some general information on inspections, common mistakes that crews make, the importance of having a plan, and safeguards in place, and more.

Disclaimer: Walker is not legally allowed to provide counsel to the listeners, so the information provided is strictly for education. First, she explains the difference between an inspection and a raid. An inspection is basically when law enforcement agents politely knock and ask to verify some forms, like an I-9.

Public areas and private areas are different

Or you might see law enforcement come to the office and say, I've got a warrant, or I've got a subpoena for John Doe. I need to talk to John Doe. And you're going to have to figure out as the employer what access you're going to provide. And there's a difference between rights tied to public access areas versus private access areas.

So if I'm talking to general parking lot, that's very different from, for example, the. Manufacturing plant, um, work area where it's not accessible and you have signs up saying not accessible to the public. 

A raid is different. 

A raid really means that. ICE as well as other law enforcement agencies now that cooperate with ice.

So it could be DEA, ATF, it could be, local law enforcement. You have a coordination that we haven't seen in the past. And so some of these officers may not really be trained in any kind of immigration compliance. All they're doing is just. Being pointed and told, go arrest or go ask questions of, so that's a problem because you've got enforcement without federal training being unleashed to try to help in this enforcement effort.

Know the difference between a subpoena, a warrant, and a judicial warrant

Needless to say, it can complicate the situation. 

So you've gotta figure out, "what am I being presented with? Is it a subpoena? Is it a warrant? Is it a judicial warrant?" Or not. You have to be able to recognize that, and then you have to have a protocol in place where your public face, which is typically a receptionist... 

If you're working inside a building. On a job site, it could be whoever's closest to the road.

You've got law enforcement coming to that location. 

Whoever that person closest to the road is, they need to know what to say and what not to say. 

They've gotta have a backup to figure out "Who do I call?" To provide access and "Do I provide access?" Alright. And then if you are gonna provide access, then you're, you've got a protocol to follow about.

Record the interaction with fixed cameras and cell phones

Recording what's being done. In some cases, you might go ahead and try to do a video of what's happening... 

As a backup to a person holding a phone and recording, you can have jobsite surveillance cameras. 

Hopefully, you've got cameras that can also help you out in recording what happened on the work site floor.

But first step, you're, you're creating these separate layers. Of how you react to the type of enforcement action you're presented with. So where, where is it happening? Public or private space? What's the document being requested? Warrant, judicial warrant, subpoena. What's the access being requested? Let me in.

And then what's my company protocol to follow? 

I mean, you're gonna follow the law, but you can do that right, or you can do it poorly. Planning ahead, like any remodeler does for literally anything else they do, can significantly reduce errors and the stress involved with making them in a chaotic environment.

In other words, it's easy to do the right thing the wrong way. 

I'm not saying that people are lying, but I'm saying that people don't understand what the questions are and, and then they provide a response. That's only part of the answer, and it then causes more concern by the enforcement officer... 

And that's gonna escalate the situation.

Instead, I'm talking about having accurate information available. And if you are in a crisis situation, that doesn't necessarily happen readily 

"Know your rights" training sessions are a good idea

After forming a plan and informing all the people on the crew, it's important to run through it so that people are familiar with what to do. It's no different than setting trusses with a crane. Everyone knows their role, what to do, and how to communicate effectively using words or even hand signals. It's worth running through it every so often. Like after coffee break or after lunch, 

I would say at least twice a year. Some employers will have people watch videos, some will have a test. 

This does a couple of things.

It establishes that your company is actively trying to be compliant with immigration laws, just to document the fact that, "We are doing this, we are trying to show compliance,"

And it helps lower the stress involved for the people on the front line. 

Right now we're at a real high stress level in the United States on a variety of enforcement actions. And you're not quite sure what the rules are, and things happen like on a day-to-day basis for employers right now on the work site enforcement, because once you have, for example, all of these temporary protected status workers, then the program for temporary protected status Is being terminated. It causes a lot of "God, what hoop do I have to jump through next?"

Having a plan in place can deeply affect the outcome of a jobsite inspection or raid

In addition to trying to keep up with the changing rules, there's the stress that you may accidentally make it worse for your colleague. It's certainly worth talking to your attorney and training your team on the details.

Education and lawyers can help reduce stress in the thick of the commotion

I think the important thing is regular education and having lawyers, to the extent you wish to use lawyers, I think that they come in handy in this kind of circumstance to have backup and a clear process to follow that helps in reducing the panic attack that you may have regarding how to properly respond.

Lawyers understand the questions you'll have to answer better than you do, or whoever is closest to the road. It's good to have a lawyer explain the questions and set boundaries on your answers. Of course, you have to tell the truth to law enforcement officers. 

You need to tell the truth when you're speaking to a law enforcement officer.

You can be charged with criminal, you know, obstruction of justice potentially, and if you are undocumented, you have the the right to say nothing. 

You have the right to say nothing except "Lawyer." It's gonna be best for everyone if your workers are legal workers and if all of them know the drill. 

So the big issue here is knowing your workforce and having a protocol.

And the big errors are on the ground when people are providing inaccurate information because they're caught unawares and they don't really know what the process is or the answers. 

Expect more no-match letters, where info on I-9 and W-2 does not match, as ICE mines Social Security info

Since recording this interview, things have ramped up, which Kathleen correctly predicted. 

I think that you're going to see additional levels of notices of inspection. You're gonna have more no match letters where you're going to have to react to potential fraudulent social security numbers or the use of social security numbers by multiple people, because now there's an agreement with Department of Homeland Security and in the Internal Revenue Service concerning mining of social security data, which has never been done in the past, except in a true criminal investigation.

So I think getting your house in order is important and making sure that you've got your compliance protocol ready is extremely critical, and if you do it in advance, your exposure to potential really heavy duty penalties and potential criminal actions is reduced.

While many are aware of activity, few are planning for it

Pro Remodeler did a poll of about 225 readers, and while more than half had seen or heard of recent ICE activity, only about a quarter have a plan. It may be a good thing for associations to look into, to help bring some predictability to the industry. 

What they could do is put a ton of effort. At the association level as well to say we definitely have work site needs. I don't have sufficient workers to do this. The immigration system is a total mess and we need to fix it and make legal, the norm. We want legal to be the norm. We didn't realize that so and so was here in an undocumented capacity, but he was a great worker and now we've lost him.

So we need to push for immigration reform that connects economic need— legitimate economic need—with immigration policy and procedure.

And right now. There's a total disconnect, and the belief is that we really, "Why on Earth do we need to rely upon undocumented workers?" Some are in denial to say that we have a sufficient workforce to do some of these tasks. And in the construction industry in particular, it has been one of those other industries that has long been proven to rely on an undocumented workforce.

So. Let's get with reality and fix the darn law.

It's always a good idea to embrace reality, and that's what we do here on the Pro Remodeler Podcast.

I'm Dan Morrison, encouraging you to hit the like button, leave a review, and share this with your friends. The Pro Remodeler Podcast is a production of Endeavor Business Media, a division of Endeavor B2B.