73 Fed. Reg. 10130 (February 26, 2008)
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) made it unlawful for a U.S. employer to knowingly hire or continue to employ an alien not authorized to be employed in the United States, and imposed a requirement that employers verify the employment eligibility of all employees they hire (both U.S. workers as well as aliens), by completing a Form I-9.The "civil monetary penalties" levied on employers who violate these rules will be raised approximately 25% effective March 27, 2008. Most of the fines were last revised in 1999.
The rule was published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, February 26. Here is a brief summary provided by the Attorney General shortly before the rule was published:
"Under the new rule and applicable law, civil penalties for violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act are adjusted for inflation. Because these penalties were last adjusted in 1999, the average adjustment is approximately 25 percent. Under the specific rounding mechanism of the law, the minimum penalty for knowing employment of an unauthorized alien increases by $100, from $275 to $375. Some of the higher civil penalties are increased by $1,000; for example, the maximum penalty for a first violation increases from $2,200 to $3,200. The biggest increase under the rounding mechanism raises the maximum civil penalty for multiple violations from the current $11,000 to $16,000. These penalties are assessed on a per-alien basis; thus, if an employer knowingly employed, or continued to employ, five unauthorized aliens, that could result in five fines."