USCIS and the Department of Justice are teaming up and collaborating to “better detect and eliminate fraud, abuse, and discrimination by employers bringing foreign visa workers to the United States.” They have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will increase their ability to share information about cases and training and make referrals.

Last October, the Department of State and the Employee Rights (IER) Section of the Civil Rights Division entered into a similar partnership to “share information about employers that may be engaging in unlawful discrimination, committing fraud, or making other misrepresentations in their use of employment-based visas such as H-1B, H-2A and H-2B.”

Just recently, one of the largest enforcement actions undertaken by the current administration, a raid at a meatpacking plant in Tennessee, resulted at least in part from an information sharing agreement between the IRS and banking institutions.

The pattern is clear. As part of President Donald Trump’s Buy American, Hire American Executive Order, the agencies responsible for granting immigration benefits and enforcing immigration laws are working together “to ensure the integrity of employment-based immigration programs and improve [their] ability to detect and prevent fraud” and protect the U.S. workforce.

The expansion of information sharing likely will lead to even more investigations, audits, and worksite visits.