The Feds can’t catch everyone, but businesses that want to play by the rules can get a little help from the government.
Kenneth R. Lovesee, special agent with the Kansas City office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told business leaders Wednesday that a new program – IMAGE – can help employers. He spoke at the monthly luncheon of the Independence Chamber of Commerce at Ophelia’s restaurant on the Square.
IMAGE – ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employees – draws on existing programs such as E-verify that are designed to help employers make sure the people they hire are in the country legally.
“That really helps eliminate a lot of the guesswork,” he said.
Lovesee said he’s been on the job for 22 years and realizes the agency cannot get to every violation and every lawbreaker.
“There’s just no way we can do it. We have to focus on the most egregious,” he said, adding that restaurants and roofers are among the industries that get the most attention from ICE.
The new program allows businesses to police themselves and certify that they’re following the rules. It involves, for example, a review of an employer’s compliance with the I-9 form, which employers have to fill out for each new hire.
“We help vet your workforce ... and make sure you have a solid workforce,” he said, adding that the program helps a company show its workers and its competitors that it’s trying to do the right thing.
Lovesee, who used to work at a border crossing in south Texas, said he thought Kansas City would be less demanding. He was wrong.
“I soon realized everyone I missed in Texas is in Kansas City,” he joked. “It was an eye-opening experience.”
There are particular challenges for ICE even right in the middle of the country. Both the University of Missouri and the University of Kansas, he said, have close to 2,000 foreign students, many of them from “countries of interest” to Washington.
“Those schools do have a lot of those kids,” he said, adding that almost all of them are here to make better lives for themselves – but a few could cause concerns.
Another issue is that two interstates that pass through Kansas City – I-70 and I-35. Sometimes, for example, his office gets a call from local police who have pulled a vehicle that’s full of people police suspect are illegal aliens.
“It could happen every day,” he said. “We just don’t get the call every day.”
