b'YOUR TOOLKIT FOR BUILDING EXCELLENCEByZachary Phillips,ensure that the warrant is signed by a judge, verify Construction Dive Editor that it lists the companys correct legal name and L ast month, President-elect Donaldaddress and email a copy of the warrant to the firms employment and immigration counsel.Trump named Tom Homan, formerHSI agents will not wait for your attorney to arrive acting head of Immigration andbefore commencing their search, Stevenson said.Customs Enforcement, as his border czar. When a warrant has an employees name on it, the Homan has promised that the incomingNational Immigration Law Center says employers do administration will increase workplace raids as partnot have to say if that employee is present that day or of its broader immigration plan. Its not clear yet whichnot, nor take the ICE agents to the named employee.industries would be most affected, but there are cluesThe NILC also advises not helping ICE agents sort from Trumps first term. workers by immigration status or nationality, while We are anticipating the resumption of mass worksitewatching agents to ensure they are complying with the raids under the first Trump administration that werewarrant. Additionally, NILC suggests having a willing focused mostly on the manufacturing and meat andparty video record the raid, in case it is needed for poultry processing industries. But we dont knowfuture legal action.where its going to be focused this time, said Marisa Daz, immigrant worker justice program director forDevelop a planthe New York City-based National Employment LawNo matter what, prior planning will be key to Project. handling a workplace visit.Construction, an industry that relies on foreign-bornGCs should work with counsel to develop a workers, could certainly be among those targeted byRapid Raid Response Plan for use if HSI executes jobsite raids, and contractors need to prepare for thea workplace investigation, including training key possibility of unannounced visits from federal agents,employees on how to handle that situation, Stevenson lawyers say. said.What to know Training for employees includes knowing what may Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents mayconstitute breaking the law. For example, managers come to a workplace as part of an investigation intoor workers who help unauthorized employees escape an employer, according to the National Immigrationa jobsite could face criminal charges.Law Center. There are several reasons why they wouldDaz said she and coworkers have heard of increased be there. fear across the board for workers, whether theyre As part of an external I-9 audit, federal agents visitauthorized to work or not, as the rhetoric around a jobsite to review employers records for workerimmigration has targeted those of Latin American authorization. In those cases, contractors get a three- and South American descent.day heads up, said Shanon Stevenson, partner atThat has detrimental effects on the workplace in Atlanta-based law firm Fisher & Phillips. terms of workers ability to identify hazards in the In a jobsite raid, however, federal agents from ICEworkplace, feeling safe to be able to speak up and let or Homeland Security Investigations would show uptheir employers know if theres something thats not unannounced, Stevenson said. Immigration agents canonly affecting them, but also all of their coworkers, only enter a private property such as a jobsite if theyDaz said.have a judicial warrant signed by a judge, accordingZachary Phillips joined Construction Dive in September to the NILC. 2019. Prior to that, he worked as an editorial intern for the Baltimore Business Journal and the Hill.com. He is a What to do graduate of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the Stevenson said contractors should review the warrantUniversity of Maryland, where he covered several beats across extensively with legal counsel, but an unannouncednumerous school publications, including the Diamondback, raid by federal agents may not give employers moreTestudo Times and Capital News Service. than a few minutes to react. In that time, she said,FRAME BUILDER - VOL5 6/ 13'