The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced details of its new strategy to fight illegal immigration — and its plan is to focus its energy on going after companies.

In a fact sheet released April 30, the new administration’s DHS announced: “Effective immediately, ICE [Immigrations and Customs Enforcement] will focus its resources … on the criminal prosecution of employers who knowingly hire illegal workers.”

Of the 6,000 arrests made in 2008, 135 were top management officials for employers hiring illegals — a ratio the DHS now feels is much too low.

Does this mean companies need to do anything differently? No — they should just continue rigorously following all hiring laws.

Nothing in the law is changing — just the way the law is enforced. According to the fact sheet, ICE use “all available civil and administrative tools, including fines and debarment, to penalize and deter illegal employment.”