Politics has seemingly permeated all facets of American life in the early days of the second Trump administration, with executive orders, tariff threats, and the usual left-right wrangling, causing contract cleaning professionals to take notice. On Thursday, Feb. 20, BSCAI President Steve Shuchat hosted the association’s first virtual Town Hall of the year and addressed some of these concerns.

Immigration

By far, the biggest issue on the minds of contract cleaning and janitorial companies in attendance was immigration. Making good on campaign promises, President Trump has issued multiple executive orders since taking office that have tightened immigration enforcement specifically. This includes suspending entry at America’s southern border, expanding expedited removal and targeting Sanctuary Cities by threatening to withhold federal funds.

E-Verify, a web-based system that allows enrolled employers to confirm their employees’ eligibility to work in the United States, will likely be implemented across a broader spectrum of industries in the Trump era. It’s something contract cleaning professionals have seen increasingly at the state level, particularly in those Republican-led.

Florida, for example, has mandated E-Verify for employers with 25 workers or more. There has been talk of nationalizing that mandate, but to date, no one attending the Town Hall was aware of a specific legislative push.

Perhaps most relevant to the contract cleaning industry is the significant shift in how federal agencies will now engage workplace immigration compliance. New directives from the Department of Homeland Security have rescinded previous restrictions on law enforcement’s activities in sensitive locations and protected areas.

“These are most notably schools and churches,” Patrick Carey, senior principal at Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, said. “If they are loosening guard rails that had been part of existing law previously, it goes to show the ‘No Holds Barred’ approach [U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement, or ICE] agents and the administration are going to take to immigration enforcement.”

I-9 Documentation

Various industries with larger immigrant workforces have already started to witness increased workplace scrutiny. Increased ICE inspections and audits are being conducted with greater interagency collaboration, and there has also been heightened scrutiny of I-9 documentation, which verify identity and work authorization.

Paige McAllister, vice president of compliance for The Workplace Advisors, has been dealing with I-9s for 25 years now. “The form has changed a lot, but a lot of the law hasn’t,” she said. “The law, though, is very picky. There are a lot of little things you have to be careful with.”

From an HR perspective, McAllister and her colleagues are telling their clients to prepare. She advises to start by reviewing I-9s, which must be completed for every employee. “You want to make sure the process is right, that you have the right people looking at the documents and completing the forms, and that those people are trained properly,” she said. “Make sure your record-keeping is correct and that they’re separate from all of your other files. That way, if ICE does come and they want to see your I-9s, you’ll be ready.”

Carey concurred, noting that even the most compliant business owners should not assume they have nothing to worry about. “If you get hit with an audit, those audits have really aggressive deadlines, and you’ll only have so much time to respond with the paperwork. Make sure all of your I-9 files are in one location so you can access them easily,” he said, sharing that this will avoid time spent search through files. “Taking a bit of time now can create peace of mind in the future if there ever is an enforcement action that targets you.”

Some companies have brought in immigration attorneys to talk to staff. Other contract cleaning employers have conducted internal I-9 audits to ensure the I-9s they have are accurate, that there is one for every employee and that the firm has retained documents for the necessary amount of time once an employee leaves.

By the end of Trump’s first term, ICE set a goal of conducting 15,000 I-9 audits annually in 2020. It is almost certain the agency will set similar goals for 2025.

A history of non-compliance is one reason a business may be targeted for an audit or search. But it could also be the result of an employee or competitor complaint. Geography may even play a role — a business could be targeted simply because it’s in an area where ICE is already zeroed in. “And it’s just not right now. We’re talking for the next four years this is going to happen — 15,000 a year for four years? That’s a lot of companies that are going to be audited,” McAllister said.

Tariffs

On the issue of tariffs, Shuchat and Town Hall speakers agreed that the Trump administration is clearly using them as a tool of economic leverage to garner preferred policy changes with countries like Canada and Mexico, as well as to rectify trade deals the president views as unfair to the United States. They also concurred that nothing is off the table for this White House. The U.S. Treasury Secretary has advocated for a 2.5% baseline tariff on all U.S. imports, which could climb to 20% depending on trade negotiations.

While tariffs could cause the cost of some cleaning products and other supplies to rise, Carey said the bigger issue is the administration wanting to use tariffs in support of getting Mexico and Canada to help enforce immigration policies. “President Trump also wants to use tariffs in an attempt to shore up U.S. manufacturing and punish overseas actors that are either harmful or perceived as being antagonistic to the United States,” he said.

Preparedness Is Key

The Town Hall eventually came back to immigration and the worry some have of a visit from ICE. Again, McAllister stressed the importance of being prepared.

She emphasized the need to have a plan in place, to be able to address these questions and considerations:

• In the event of a visit, what will front-desk staff do in the moment?
• Who will front desk staff call first? Identify a designated person.
• What documentation are the agents presenting? Understand the differences between a judicial warrant and an administrative warrant. If presented with a search warrant, agents can likely search anywhere.
• Have legal counsel available to call.

“These things, once they happen, will happen rapidly,” she said. While the coming months and years present plenty of unknowns, one thing remains certain: this community will remain a resource for contract cleaning professionals to gather, share resources, and exchange information in times of uncertainty.

Stay up to date with BSCAI. Future Town Halls are planned for May, July, and September. More information and registration details can be found online.