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Immigration-Related Business Crimes Defense

When Homeland Security Investigations looks at a business, the question is no longer paperwork. Employer harboring, I-9 document fraud, H-1B and EB-5 fraud, and pattern-or-practice hiring cases put owners, managers and executives at personal criminal risk. This page covers that criminal exposure for businesses. It is not about visa or green card applications.

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  • Aaron M. Cohen, more than 30 years of federal criminal defense. Federal investigations and prosecutions nationwide.
Federal defense for employers, owners and executives facing immigration-related criminal investigations

Who This Page Is For

This page is for employers, owners, executives, HR and payroll managers, and EB-5 project principals facing federal criminal exposure tied to immigration law. It covers worksite enforcement, harboring, unlawful hiring, document fraud and visa program fraud. It is not about visa applications, work permits, green cards or deportation. For an individual's criminal case with immigration consequences, see Federal Immigration Defense.

Immigration Enforcement in 2026

Immigration is the largest category of federal prosecution. TRAC data for August 2026 shows immigration accounted for 52.8% of all new federal prosecutions. Charges under 8 U.S.C. § 1324 ranked fourth nationally, at about 362 defendants a month across the months TRAC published. Most of those are border cases. Employer cases are a subset, and they are growing.

Two other 2026 numbers matter for businesses. Visa and document fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1546 was up 59.7% year over year in August 2026. The Department of Homeland Security referred 17% of white-collar prosecutions in August 2026, up from 6% in January. HSI is now a major source of white-collar cases.

How These Cases Start

  • Notice of Inspection. HSI serves a demand for the company's Forms I-9. Federal regulations (8 C.F.R. § 274a.2) give at least three business days to produce them. No warrant is needed.
  • Worksite raid. Agents arrive with a criminal search warrant, detain workers, and seize payroll, HR files, phones and computers.
  • Referral from another case. A smuggling, labor or document vendor case leads agents to the businesses that used the workers or documents.
  • Insiders. A former manager, recruiter or payroll provider cooperates with the government.
  • Visa program audits. A site visit on an H-1B petition, a Department of Labor wage complaint, or an EB-5 project review produces a criminal referral.
  • Subpoenas and target letters. A grand jury subpoena for payroll and I-9 records, or a target letter to an owner or manager.

The Statutes and What the Government Must Prove

Harboring, transporting and encouraging

8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(1)(A) makes it a crime to transport, conceal, harbor or shield a person from detection, or to encourage or induce a person to reside in the United States, knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that the person's presence is unlawful. Conspiracy and aiding and abetting are covered. The penalty runs per person:

  • Up to 5 years per alien for transporting, harboring or encouraging
  • Up to 10 years per alien when done for commercial advantage or private financial gain, which is how prosecutors frame employer cases built on cheaper labor
  • Up to 20 years if the offense causes serious bodily injury or places a life in jeopardy, and up to life if it results in death

Property used in the offense and its gross proceeds are subject to forfeiture under § 1324(b).

Unlawful hiring

  • Knowingly hiring at least 10 individuals in a 12-month period with actual knowledge that they were brought into the country unlawfully: up to 5 years, § 1324(a)(3)(A)
  • A pattern or practice of knowingly hiring or continuing to employ unauthorized workers: up to six months for the entire pattern or practice and a fine of up to $3,000 per worker, 8 U.S.C. § 1324a(f)
  • Civil penalties per worker for knowing hires and for I-9 paperwork violations, § 1324a(e), adjusted for inflation each year

Document fraud

  • 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a) covers forged or fraudulently obtained visas and permits and false statements under oath in immigration documents: up to 10 years for a first or second offense, 15 years for others, 20 years if tied to drug trafficking, 25 years if tied to terrorism
  • § 1546(b) covers false identification documents and false attestations used to satisfy the I-9 requirement: up to 5 years
  • 8 U.S.C. § 1324c is the civil counterpart: cease and desist orders and per-document penalties for making, using, accepting or providing false documents

Visa program and investor fraud

  • H-1B. False statements in labor condition applications and petitions are charged under § 1546(a) and 18 U.S.C. § 1001 (up to 5 years), often with mail or wire fraud.
  • EB-5. Misuse of investor funds is charged as wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (up to 20 years per count) and securities fraud, with a parallel SEC case. See Ponzi and Securities Fraud.
  • Marriage fraud. 8 U.S.C. § 1325(c) carries up to 5 years and a $250,000 fine. Organizers and paid spouses are often also charged with encouraging under § 1324.

How Sentencing Works

Harboring and transporting are sentenced under USSG § 2L1.1. The base offense level is 12. It drops 3 levels if the offense was not for profit, and rises 3, 6 or 9 levels when it involved 6 to 24, 25 to 99, or 100 or more people. Document trafficking under § 2L2.1 starts at level 11 and rises the same way by the number of documents. Visa program and investor cases charged as fraud are usually sentenced under § 2B1.1, where the loss amount drives the range. Headcount and loss are the numbers to contest.

The Civil and Administrative Track

A criminal case often runs alongside civil employer sanctions, debarment from federal contracts, Department of Labor wage findings, revocation of approved petitions, and SEC actions in EB-5 matters. Workers detained in a raid may face removal, which affects who is available as a witness. Every statement and production in the civil track can be used in the criminal case.

Defense Strategy

  • Knowledge. Most of these statutes require proof that the defendant knew, or recklessly disregarded, a worker's status or a document's falsity. Reliance on documents that appeared genuine, on staffing agencies and on HR staff is evidence against that element.
  • Who did what. Prosecutors charge up the chain. The defense separates the owner from the supervisor who hired, the recruiter who supplied documents, and the vendor who ran payroll.
  • Headcount and gain. The number of workers and the claim of financial gain set the maximum and the guideline range. Both are contestable.
  • The search. Warrants have limits. Searches that went beyond them and statements taken without proper warnings can be challenged.
  • Timing. The best results usually come before indictment, while prosecutors are still deciding whom to charge.

What To Do When HSI Arrives

  1. Do not obstruct, and do not let anyone hide workers, documents or devices.
  2. Ask for the lead agent's card and a copy of any warrant. Read its scope.
  3. Do not consent to searches beyond the warrant. An administrative warrant signed by an immigration officer, not a judge, does not by itself authorize entry into non-public areas.
  4. Do not give an interview. Tell managers they may decline to speak with agents.
  5. Do not complete, correct or backdate any I-9 after a Notice of Inspection or a raid.
  6. Preserve every record and suspend routine deletion.
  7. Call counsel before producing anything.

Facing a target letter or a subpoena? See Target Letter and Pre-Indictment Defense and FBI Contact and Grand Jury Subpoena Defense.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, depending on what the government can prove the owner knew. A pattern or practice of knowingly hiring or continuing to employ unauthorized workers under 8 U.S.C. § 1324a(f) carries up to six months and a fine of up to $3,000 per worker. Knowingly hiring at least 10 people in a 12-month period with actual knowledge that they were brought into the country unlawfully carries up to 5 years under § 1324(a)(3)(A). The heaviest exposure is harboring under § 1324(a)(1)(A)(iii): up to 5 years per worker, or 10 years per worker when the government proves commercial advantage or private financial gain.

A Notice of Inspection is an administrative demand for your Forms I-9. Federal regulations give the employer at least three business days to produce them, and no warrant or subpoena is required. A criminal search warrant is signed by a federal judge on a finding of probable cause, is executed immediately, and lets agents seize records, phones and computers. A Notice of Inspection can end in civil fines. It can also become the first step in a criminal case, so treat the production as a legal event and have counsel review it before anything leaves the building.

Stay calm and do not obstruct. Ask for the lead agent's name and card and a copy of any warrant. Read what the warrant covers and call counsel immediately. Do not consent to a search beyond the warrant. Tell managers and employees that they may speak with agents but are not required to, and that no one may hide, move or destroy any person, document or device. Do not give an interview yourself. Write down what agents search, what they take and whom they question.

It can. Section 1324 reaches anyone who, knowing or in reckless disregard of a person's unlawful status, transports that person to further the violation or conceals, harbors or shields the person from detection. Prosecutors have built employer cases on company housing, van pools, cash payroll and warnings before inspections. The government still has to prove the required knowledge or reckless disregard and a connection between the conduct and the person's unlawful presence. Ordinary employment benefits given to everyone on the payroll are a different fact pattern, and the defense is built on that difference.

Not by itself. An employer who accepts a document that reasonably appears genuine has complied with the verification rules. Exposure starts when the government claims the employer knew the document was false, helped supply it, or completed or backdated forms to cover a gap. That conduct can support civil penalties under § 1324c and criminal charges under 18 U.S.C. § 1546(b), which carries up to 5 years for false documents and false attestations used to satisfy the I-9 requirement, along with aiding and abetting and conspiracy counts.

Yes. A false statement in a labor condition application or petition can be charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a) and § 1001, and benching workers or paying less than the attested wage are common triggers for a referral. EB-5 investments add a securities overlay: misrepresenting how investor money is used can support wire fraud charges carrying up to 20 years per count, securities fraud charges, and a parallel SEC case. These matters often start as a site visit, a document request or a subpoena, and the response at that stage shapes everything after it.

Either or both. Prosecutors can charge the company, the owner, the HR manager and the supervisors who hired, housed or paid workers. In many cases the government approaches mid-level employees first and asks them to cooperate against the people above them. Each person's interests can diverge from the company's, which is why separate counsel is often needed early. Company counsel represents the company, not its officers or employees.

No. This page is about federal criminal exposure for businesses, owners and executives: harboring, unlawful hiring, document fraud, visa program fraud and investor fraud. We do not file visa petitions, work permit applications or green card applications, and we do not appear in immigration court. When a criminal case affects a client's own status, we coordinate with the client's immigration counsel. For an individual's criminal case with immigration consequences, see our Federal Immigration Defense page.

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This page is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice. Contacting AMC Defense Law does not create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Aaron M. Cohen, Esq., is responsible for the content of this page. AMC Defense Law, 1200 N. Federal Highway, Suite 300, Boca Raton, Florida 33432.