Texas Comptroller Don Huffines (R-Texas) asked President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday to audit every state and local government entity in Texas. The comptroller’s office said apparent failures in its own hiring records could leave taxpayers facing about $5 million or more in federal civil penalties.
The figure comes from a preliminary internal estimate. Problems with how the agency completed, verified and kept federal Form I-9 records may date back 20 years, the office said. The release gave no count of affected records or findings about whether any employees lacked work authorization.
Huffines, a former Dallas-area state senator, took office August 1 after Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) appointed him. He announced the agency-wide review three days later.
The office hired independent outside counsel to investigate and said it has begun fixing the problems through its Taxpayer First Project. It said it would accept any penalties it considers legitimate.
“If 90 days of auditing found this in one agency, Texans should ask what is sitting in all the others,” Huffines said in the release.
Huffines also said early findings suggested people inside government knew about the lapses and concealed them. The release gave no details about who allegedly concealed the problems or the evidence behind the claim.
What federal rules require
Employers use Form I-9 to verify a new hire’s identity and work authorization. Texas law separately requires state agencies to use E-Verify for new hires. The federal system checks information from the form against government records. The release gave no findings about the agency’s use of E-Verify.
Federal rules generally give employers at least three business days’ notice before an I-9 inspection. Federal law allows civil penalties for certain paperwork violations.
The release gave no timetable for the outside investigation. State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin) is set to succeed Huffines in January after winning Tuesday’s election, according to unofficial returns previously reported by The Dallas Express.
