House Bill 2105 (HB 2105), dubbed the Immigrant Worker Protection Act, introduces sweeping changes aimed at shielding workers from federal immigration enforcement actions. The bill places significant new obligations on employers and makes it more difficult for the federal government to enforce immigration law.
HB 2105, prohibits employers from granting voluntary consent to federal agencies seeking access to worker records without a subpoena or judicial warrant. Specifically, the bill states: "Except as otherwise required by federal law... an employer, or a person acting on behalf of the employer, may not provide voluntary consent to federal agencies to access, review, or obtain the employer's worker records without a subpoena or judicial warrant." This measure carves out exceptions for I-9 forms when a notice of inspection is provided, but it fundamentally restricts cooperation with agencies like ICE, potentially complicating routine compliance efforts for businesses.
Equally burdensome is the requirement for rapid notifications. Upon receiving notice of a federal inspection of I-9 forms or other records, employers must alert workers within 72 hours through posted notices in conspicuous locations, using English (and five other languages). These notices must detail the agency's involvement, inspection nature, and contact info for immigrant rights groups. Moreover, employers are mandated to make "reasonable attempts" to distribute individual notifications by hand and telephone, and crucially, send written notices to the last known addresses of all workers employed over the past three years.
This retroactive outreach could involve tracking down thousands of former employees imposing substantial administrative costs on small businesses already strained by regulatory overload. HB 2105 risks turning employers into unwitting adversaries of federal law enforcement. The bill's enforcement mechanisms, fines starting at $2,000 per worker for violations, plus private lawsuits, could lead to frivolous claims and deter job creation. Additional mandates, like providing templates for rights posters by July 1, 2026, and prohibiting retaliation, further layer on compliance hurdles.
HB 2105 is a bill looking for a problem that doesn’t exist. Federal employment law already has enforcement mechanisms, and all HB 2105 would do is create another unfunded mandate on Washington business.