In light of the Department's notification to grant applicants, and the information we are providing in this memorandum, to the extent the Department's focus is on ensuring that grant applicants comply with Section 1373, based on our work to date we believe there are several steps that the Department can consider taking:
•Provide clear guidance to grant recipients regarding whether Section 1373 is an "applicable federal law" that recipients would be expected to comply with in order to satisfy relevant grant rules and regulations;13
•Require grant applicants to provide certifications specifying the applicants' compliance with Section 1373, along with documentation sufficient to support the certification.
•Consult with the Department's law enforcement counterparts at ICE and other agencies, prior to a grant award, to determine whether, in their view, the applicants are prohibiting or restricting employees from sharing with ICE information regarding the citizenship or immigration status of individuals, and are therefore not in compliance with Section 1373.
•Ensure that grant recipients clearly communicate to their personnel the provisions of Section 1373, including those employees cannot be prohibited or restricted from sending
citizenship or immigration status information to ICE.
These steps would not only provide the Department with assurances regarding compliance with Section 1373 prior to a grant award, but also would be helpful to the OIG if the Department were to later refer to the-OIG for investigation a potential Section 1373 violation (as the Department recently warned grant applicants it might do in the future).