Over the last 4 years leading up to the 2008 presidential election, the "immigration debate" has been increasing in volume almost exponentially. The attempts by congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform have failed despite fervent bipartisan efforts to address this very controversial yet important issue.

However, under tremendous political pressure, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced new efforts to enforce existing immigration laws and state and local governments are passing new legislation that goes far beyond existing federal legislation.

The employment world is now reeling from a sudden new wave of government regulations and workplace enforcement efforts. Despite the failure of Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, new polices from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and bold new precedents in state legislation have changed the hiring landscape almost over-night.