The Trump Administration’s New Era of Enforcement Policies and the impact on U.S. Multinational Companies

Dorothy Capers, Executive Vice President and Group General Counsel , National Express Group

In response to the Trump Administration’s “America First” agenda , the principal agency responsible for administering U.S. immigration benefits, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), has issued a series of memoranda rescinding long-standing policies increasing its scrutiny of adjudications and broadening its enforcement ability. Under new guidance issued, the Federal Government will more closely scrutinize immigration benefits and will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable foreign nationals from potential enforcement. This enforcement-oriented agenda includes employment based non-immigrant and immigrant visa categories. As part of this updated policy, USCIS will be referring more cases to U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) for removal proceedings. Importantly, this will impact companies who employ foreign professional local hires and international assignees in the U.S. This article will (i) analyze the updated enforcement-focused USCIS legal framework; (ii) examine recent USCIS adjudication trends in light of the “America First” agenda and revised internal enforcement policies; and (iii) discuss how companies can best prepare for increased scrutiny from the Federal Government and strategize to ensure business continuity in light of potential employment authorization disruptions for their international workforce.

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Enforcement Transport November 2018 Vol.11, No. 45, Autumn 2018

Dorothy Capers

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Dorothy G. Capers is Executive Vice President, Group General Counsel of National Express Group. National Express is a publicly traded transportation company on the London stock exchange with subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Spain, Bahrain, Germany and North America. Dorothy oversees a diverse legal team across the globe that supports the Company in areas of corporate governance, finance, regulatory compliance, mergers & acquisitions, employment, labor, litigation, environmental, real estate and corporate contracts. Prior to joining National Express in June of 2015, Dorothy was Associate General Counsel for US Foods, Inc., a foodservice distribution company that is publicly traded on the U.S. Stock Exchange. There she had primary responsibility over the Litigation and Bankruptcy/Finance teams within the Legal Department. She was also a member of the team leading US Foods through a proposed merger with Sysco Corporation. Before joining US Foods, Dorothy has worked extensively as a litigator in the state, county and local government as well as in the private sector for law firms and corporations. Her government experience includes her leadership as a Deputy Corporation Counsel with the City of Chicago and as a prosecutor for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office. Dorothy’s first in house role was as Senior Counsel with Metra Railroad. Dorothy has lectured on legal topics related primarily to internal investigations, attorney client privilege, immigration law, development of convergence and alternative fee proposals and best practices for developing in-house litigation strategies. Dorothy sits as a member of the board of the Illinois Equal Justice Foundation, Children’s Home & Aid, and the Black Alumni Network for the University of Illinois. Dorothy earned her J.D. from Howard University School of Law, Washington DC and her B.A from the University of Illinois, Champaign, IL.

Enforcement Transport November 2018 Vol.11, No. 45, Autumn 2018