Counseling Employers Through ICE Audits, IRS Summonses, and Worksite Raids

John W. Mazzeo, Counsel | Seyfarth Shaw

John W. Mazzeo is Counsel in Seyfarth Shaw’s Immigration practice and a recognized authority on employment eligibility verification, Form I-9, and E-Verify compliance. A former ICE prosecutor, he pairs years as a government worksite-enforcement trial attorney with years counseling one of the nation’s largest providers of onboarding services and solutions, helping employers manage immigration compliance risk while balancing federal and state obligations against real operational realities. His practice is limited to immigration and nationality law.

• Education & Credentials

John earned his J.D. from Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law in Philadelphia and his B.A. from Ursinus College. His practice is limited to immigration and nationality law—the field in which he has concentrated his career across government, in-house, and private-practice roles.

• Recognition & Leadership

John serves as Vice Chair of AILA’s Verification and Documentation Liaison Committee and has been quoted by Bloomberg Law on the proposed expansion of E-Verify. He is a frequent national speaker, including as a panelist at AILA’s 2026 Annual Conference and a two-session presenter at SHRM 2026, and has authored thought leadership relied upon by attorneys advising on Form I-9 and E-Verify compliance.

• Professional Involvement

A member of AILA since 2021, John has served on its Verification and Documentation Liaison Committee since 2023 and as Vice Chair since 2024, liaising with USCIS, ICE, the DOJ Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, and the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer on Form I-9 and enforcement issues. He is also active in the Association of Corporate Counsel, where he has chaired the Corporate and Securities Law Network (2025–2026) and led the International Law Section for the Greater Philadelphia Chapter.

• Experience

John previously served as Assistant Chief Counsel at DHS-ICE, handling worksite enforcement cases across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware, including litigation before the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer. He later served as Associate General Counsel and Director of I-9 and E-Verify Compliance at i9Success, before advising employers as Counsel at Seyfarth Shaw.

Alexander J. Madrak, Counsel | Seyfarth Shaw

Alexander J. Madrak is Counsel in Seyfarth Shaw’s Immigration practice, where he advises employers across the full employment-authorization sphere—Form I-9 audits, immigration-related government discrimination investigations, internal controls testing and assessments, and day-to-day compliance counseling that balances legal risk against business needs. Drawing on both public- and private-sector experience, Alex brings a distinctive perspective shaped by his work on immigration-related discrimination investigations in the I-9 and E-Verify processes within the Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, and by managing work authorization risk and compliance for one of the world’s largest companies.

• Education & Credentials

Alex earned his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law. His practice focuses on immigration compliance and enforcement, the area in which he has built his career across government, in-house, and law firm roles.

• Recognition & Leadership

Alex is a frequent contributor to Seyfarth’s immigration compliance commentary, co-authoring widely read client alerts and “Through The Immigration Lens” posts on fast-moving developments—including Temporary Protected Status terminations and related litigation, Form I-9 and E-Verify regulatory updates, and commercial driver’s license compliance—that employers and fellow practitioners rely on to track enforcement trends.

• Professional Involvement

Alex is an active member of the immigration bar and participates in American Immigration Lawyers Association programming. He is part of Seyfarth’s Immigration Compliance & Enforcement specialty group, which counsels employers on Form I-9 and E-Verify compliance, ICE inspections and worksite enforcement, internal immigration assessments, and DOJ–IER anti-discrimination matters.

• Experience

Before private practice, Alex worked within the Department of Justice’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section, focusing on immigration-related discrimination investigations in the I-9 and E-Verify processes, and later managed work authorization risk and compliance in-house for one of the world’s largest companies. Earlier in his career, he researched and drafted immigration policy memoranda for the field offices of a major nonprofit organization and contributed to updates of the Board of Immigration Appeals Manual. He now advises employers as Counsel in Seyfarth’s Immigration Compliance & Enforcement group.

SESSION 1 – Compliance Hardening Before the NOI Arrives | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Audit and harden a client’s workforce before the Notice of Inspection lands. This session builds a pre-NOI framework — I-9 self-audit design, payroll hygiene, and E-Verify strategy — that remediates errors without triggering constructive-knowledge or DOJ anti-discrimination liability.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Responding When the NOI, the Summons, or the Raid Arrives | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

Advise clients through the three acute scenarios — the I-9 Notice of Inspection, the IRS summons, and the worksite raid. Master the Virtue Memo supersession, ICE’s warrant taxonomy, the consent trap, and conflicting California, New York, and Illinois obligations.