The U.S Department of Labor (DOL) has certified approximately 7,200 workers from California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin states as eligible to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA). Through the TAA program, DOL will leverage opportunities for displaced workers to acquire the skills needed to secure good jobs in promising areas of their local economies.  Additional information on TAA program and the range of DOL employment and training services is available on its website http://www.doleta.gov.

For complete information, please click: US DOL certifies approximately 7,200 workers in 15 states as eligible to apply for TAA

According to the report, the new State and local E-Verify requirements went into effect on January 1, 2010 in Georgia, South Carolina, Illinois, and Lancaster, California. The South Carolina Illegal Immigration Reform Act requires all employers with 100 more employees to participate in E-Verify or only hire employees who possess or qualify for a South Carolina driver’s license (or other state license with similarly strict requirements). In Illinois, the employers willing to voluntarily enroll in E-Verify are urged to consult the Illinois Department of Labor’s website. In Georgia, employers, contractors, and subcontractors are required to participate in E-Verify are required to post their user identification number and date of authorization to use E-Verify in their website.

For complete information, please click: State and local E-Verify changes arriving with the New Year

The E- Verify program introduced by the federal government to reduce the hiring of illegal immigrants, is gaining popularity, with more than 124,000 businesses, including nearly 10,000 in California have signed up the Web-based identification program that enables employers to check employees legal status in US. Recently, it has been observed that 1,000 new businesses are signing up each week despite concerns about its reliability.

The Obama Administration is heavily relying on the program to solve the illegal immigrant employment problem and two weeks ago, he asked the Congress to allocate $12 million more to the program in the next fiscal year. During her Congressional hearing, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Napolitano said that the program was “a cornerstone of workplace enforcement across the country.” The program is voluntary, though few states have passed laws requiring all businesses to participate, and several others mandate its use by public employers. Employment services such as AppleOne Inc., and Stronghold Engineering are using the program and termed it to be very user-friendly.

For complete information, please click E-Verify grows in Popularity in California

In an effort based on alignment with the national program to identify and deport more illegal immigrants with criminal records, Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego became the first counties in California to start checking the immigration status of all detainees booked into jails. The Law enforcement officials will fingerprint detainees in these counties so that such prints can be run through federal databases to ascertain whether they had any contact with the immigration system. After serving the sentences, inmates will be transferred to immigration custody for possible deportation. David Venturella, executive director of Secure Communities for Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) appreciated the program as more accurate than the previous system. He added that convicted illegal immigrants who pose a threat to public safety, including those convicted of murder, rape, robbery and kidnapping will be transferred to federal custody for deportation.

For detailed information, please read: Immigration Status of Inmates to be Checked in 3 California Counties