HARLINGEN, Texas — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) welcomed three companions to the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE) program Tuesday throughout a signing ceremony.
IMAGE is a nationwide program that assists employers, strengthens hiring practices and curtails the employment of unauthorized staff via outreach, training and partnership.
“HSI is happy to welcome the company’s latest companions: metropolis of Weslaco, Palm Valley Healthcare, INC., and Providencia Funding Teams,” mentioned Shane Folden, particular agent in cost for HSI San Antonio. “HSI is making a tradition of compliance by constructing cooperative relationships with employers who strengthen hiring practices and encourage compliance to make sure a lawful workforce.”
Metropolis of Weslaco
Weslaco was based in 1919, taking its identify from the initials of the W E. Stewart Land Co. Beneath the management and steerage of Mayor David Suarez and Metropolis Supervisor Mike R. Perez, the town of Weslaco gives all kinds of municipal companies to its residents. Amongst these companies are sanitation, water, streets, inspections, hearth/ambulance, police, emergency administration in addition to municipal court docket, parks, info expertise and utilities.
Palm Valley Well being Care, INC.
Palm Valley Well being Care, INC. gives acceptable interventions that allow its shoppers and their households the utmost approved care, whether or not or not it’s residence well being companies or private attendant companies. The company workers is skilled and educated to supply private caregiver, scientific, and rehabilitative companies to people who require help in any of those areas.
Providencia Investments Group
Providencia Investments Group, organized and established in 2016, gives accounting and earnings tax companies to the enterprise group and people in Harlingen, Texas. Its mission and aim are to supply sound enterprise practices and earnings tax planning to its shoppers. The corporate assists its shoppers to maximise their earnings tax legal responsibility and improve the advantages of enterprise possession whereas encouraging full compliance with guidelines and laws as established by the Inside Income Code.
To qualify for IMAGE certification, companions should conform to quite a lot of circumstances:
- conduct a self-assessment of their hiring practices to uncover vulnerabilities that could possibly be exploited by unauthorized staff;
- enroll in E-Verify, an employment eligibility verification program;
- practice workers on IMAGE Finest Employment Practices and using new screening instruments; and
- endure a Form I-9 audit by ICE.
Undocumented staff create vulnerabilities in in the present day’s market by presenting false paperwork to realize employment, finishing purposes for fraudulent advantages, and stealing identities of authorized U.S. staff. To fight this, ICE initiated the IMAGE program in 2006.
All IMAGE members should take part within the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) E-Confirm employment eligibility verification program. By this program, employers can confirm that newly employed workers are eligible to work in america. This Web-based system is obtainable all through the nation and is free to employers. It gives an automatic hyperlink to the Social Safety Administration database and DHS immigration data.
Upon enrollment in and dedication to the IMAGE Finest Employment Practices, program members are deemed “IMAGE licensed,” a distinction DHS and ICE imagine will grow to be an trade normal. IMAGE additionally gives to all employers free coaching on the Kind I-9, fraudulent doc detection, and constructing a stable immigration compliance mannequin.
IMAGE members can even be taught concerning the significance of avoiding discrimination in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act’s anti-discrimination provision §274B.8U.S.C.§1324b.
Central and south Texas employers curious about studying extra about IMAGE membership ought to name the ICE IMAGE coordinator in San Antonio at 210-967-7263 or go to ICE.gov/image