Texas Comptroller Don Huffines is calling on President Donald Trump, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to audit state and local government entities in Texas after a review found apparent failures in his agency’s employment eligibility practices.
In a statement, Huffines says review found potential problems with completing, verifying and retaining federal Form I-9 records, which are used to verify employees’ identities and authorization to work in the United States. The issues may date back as far as 20 years and could expose taxpayers to about $5 million or more in federal civil penalties, according to a preliminary internal assessment.
“My message to Texans never changed: audit government, expose corruption. It is your money,” Huffines said. “I said I could not wait to clean out the garage. This just scratches the surface of the waste and neglect my administration has found.
“This is what decades of neglect and weak leadership from the mushy middle look like. Our officials were desperate to stay in power and desperate for the approval of elitists and lobbyists, so they never looked under the hood, and taxpayers are left holding the bag. If 90 days of auditing found this in one agency, Texans should ask what is sitting in all the others. We are the outsiders who found it, and sunlight is the best disinfectant.
“This was not ignorance. The early findings suggest people inside government knew about these failures and hid them.”
The comptroller’s office hired outside legal counsel to investigate. It said it will not contest legitimate penalties and has begun remediation as part of the Taxpayer First Project.
Huffines, who ordered a comprehensive review after taking office in August, said early findings suggest people inside government knew about the failures and hid them. He urged federal officials to review employment eligibility records at government entities across Texas and said agencies that violated I-9 requirements should pay any fines.
Addressing President Trump, Huffines says he has invited him and ICE to review the employment eligibility of every government employee in Texas. “The state of Texas needs to pay its fines for violating federal I-9 requirements, just like every business has to. And every government entity out of compliance should be audited and pay up too,” he said.
