City of Palmdale Becomes First Municipality in Nation to Join IMAGE Program
DATE: September 9, 2008
The City of Palmdale is one of two Los Angeles-area employers that are among the 26 newest members nationwide of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) IMAGE program, short for ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers, which provides private industry an opportunity to partner with the agency to develop a more secure and stable workforce.
The City of Palmdale, which currently employs more than 280 people, and Swissport Cargo Services, an international warehouse handling business based at Los Angeles International Airport with a workforce of more than 500, are among the 26 employers taking part in a signing ceremony today at the recently opened IMAGE headquarters in Arlington, Va. In addition, 10 new companies have agreed to become IMAGE associates, committing themselves to meeting the workforce compliance standards set by the IMAGE program at its inception in January 2007. These newest members and associates join the IMAGE corporate compliance group that already included nine charter members.
ICE’s newest IMAGE partners hail from around the United States and include a wide range of industries, including employment services, aviation, transportation, construction, high technology, shipping and manufacturing. In signing the IMAGE contract, these businesses are establishing a formal partnership with law enforcement to follow the best hiring practices recommended by the program, train their staff to uphold the high standards required by the program and to use the tools offered by the federal government to screen employees to ensure they are lawfully authorized to work. Associate members are working to meet the standards set by the program, partnering with ICE officials to assess their business practices and improve, where necessary, the way they hire, process I-9 forms, maintain employment records and otherwise comply with U.S. laws on employment.
“Thank you for joining ICE in protecting national security by ensuring the integrity of your workforces,” said Julie L. Myers, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for ICE. “Your ability to aspire to and meet the IMAGE standard is an example to all those in your industry of corporate leadership and good citizenship. It’s also a signal to your clients and business partners that you care about your brand and their reputation in partnering with you.”
In addition to the corporate members and associates, ICE acknowledged today the endorsement of a major association, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, which pledged to promote ICE membership among its member municipalities.
“The City of Palmdale is proud to do its part and take the lead among cities in California in helping to ensure a more secure and stable workforce,” said Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford.
“In our branch of the aviation industry cargo security is of the utmost importance,” said Mark Burgess, a local vice president for Swissport Cargo Services. “The ICE program improves our ability to screen employees with access to cargo boarding passenger aircraft. Swissport takes pride in being at the forefront of the industry and its partnership with the ICE program.”
IMAGE membership begins with a self-assessment of hiring practices to uncover vulnerabilities to illegal activity related to immigration status. Technical tools to screen job applicants, such as E-Verify, which is hosted on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Web site, or to screen Social Security numbers, are integrated with best practices to assure that employees are legally eligible to work.
Companies that have been IMAGE members for almost two years attest that they are seeing more stability in their workforce, interest on the part of clients in contracting with compliant companies and a reduction in risk to their own corporate image through better understanding of compliance with the law.
To learn more about the IMAGE program, go to www.ICE.gov and choose IMAGE from the Partners area of the Web site.