With an eye on the bottom line, employers must think carefully about when to involve outside counsel on business matters. It can be tricky to know when to call on immigration counsel rather than counting on the HR team to identify and handle immigration-related issues. In particular, companies that do not sponsor employment-based visas may be caught off guard by immigration compliance issues they still face.

There are times when it is blazingly obvious that the immigration lawyers will need to step in—like when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement surprised 7-Eleven with a raid on dozens of its franchised stores across the country on Jan. 10. Dramatic raids like this are a major feature of the current worksite enforcement regime, which seeks to find and penalize employers who turn a blind eye to their employee's work authorization and send a message to all employers and undocumented immigrants.

Employers will also recognize the urgent need for legal assistance when ICE issues a Notice of Inspection. The subpoena allows the company just a few days to turn over its I-9 records, along with a laundry list of other documents such as payroll information, tax statements and assorted corporate documents. The three- to five-day deadline is not nearly enough time for a company that was not already prepared for it.