Best Practices for Worksite Interactions with ICE

It is no longer news that activity by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, or ICE, increased in 2025. According to Axios, the agency deported 442,637 people between October 2024 and September 2025. At the Building Envelope Contractors Conference, Robin McGuffin with the law firm Stites & Harbison provided some best practices for employers to mitigate risk for their employees and companies when dealing with ICE. 

Employers’ obligations in hiring 

Employers are required to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all newly hired employees and must have new hires complete their I-9 form by their third workday. I-9 forms should be retained for each employee for three years after their hire date or one year after their termination date, depending on which is later. 

Federal contractors and subcontractors are required to use E-Verify to confirm that employees are eligible to work in the United States. Failure to comply with these requirements can lead to both civil and criminal penalties for employers, including up to six months in prison and/or a fine of $30,000 per unauthorized worker. 

What to do during an ICE visit 

Interactions with ICE agents can range from a warrantless “knock and talk” visit, to an I-9 audit, or a worksite raid. McGuffin recommends employers be guided by the four “C’s”: courteous, closemouthed, counsel, capture. 

Courteous: McGuffin recommends that staff remain polite to ICE agents, and refrain from blocking or interfering with their actions. If experiencing a worksite raid, staff should be made aware of the differences between an administrative warrant, which does not authorize entrance to nonpublic areas of the workplace, and a judicial warrant, signed by a judge that does authorize search into nonpublic areas specified by the warrant. 

If a raid does happen, she cautions employers not to alert employees that ICE is present or help them leave the worksite. She also cautions against denying the presence of named employees if asked by agents, or instructing employees not to speak with agents. 

Closemouthed: McGuffin urges staff and employers to never answer substantive questions posed by agents or to waive their rights. For example, during an I-9 audit, employers have three days to produce I-9 forms for employees. An agent may ask if staff wishes to waive this right: staff should be trained by employers to say no. If a business experiences a raid, McGuffin encourages employers and staff to comply with correct warrants, but to not offer consent for agents to access nonpublic areas, and to not volunteer any information to agents. Employees have the right to remain silent, and staff can ask ICE agents if they, and other employees, are free to go during the interaction. 

Counsel: In any situation, employers should call company counsel as soon as possible. If facing an I-9 audit, the business should work with counsel to provide documents to comply with the subpoena. During a raid, a staff member should immediately call counsel and send a picture of the warrant supplied by ICE. 

Capture: During the ICE interaction, staff should be trained to capture relevant information. That can include taking pictures of the warrant or Notice of Inspection, as well as the ICE agents’ activities. During an I-9 audit, it’s appropriate to ask for each agent’s business card. 

Other than following these principles, McGuffin suggests that employers be prepared. That can include conducting an I-9 audit and training human resources staff on I-9 compliance, enrolling in E-Verify, retaining counsel, designating points of contact for these situations and training staff on what to do if ICE visits, and clearly marking nonpublic areas of your business with signage.