On September 2, 2011, Bellingham Marine, world renowned marina builder, entered into a two year agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to participate in a program titled IMAGE. This is a voluntary program to promote compliance to prevent the hiring or continued employment of people who are not authorized to work in the United States.

As part of the IMAGE program BMI voluntarily agreed to enroll in the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify program and process all future employees through the agency’s E-Verify program. Bellingham will also provide ICE with a hiring and employment eligibility verification program that includes at least one annual internal Form I-9 audit as well as companywide hiring procedures to prevent the employment of unauthorized workers.

The goal of IMAGE is to curtail the employment of unauthorized workers through outreach, education and training. The IMAGE program also promotes employment eligibility programs such as E-Verify, which fosters compliance through this partnership. “As a federal contractor, the IMAGE program and E-Verify are instrumental in assisting BMI with building a comprehensive immigration compliance program,” remarked Beth Vonnegut, Director of Human Resources for Bellingham Marine.

As the world’s leading marina design-build construction company, Bellingham Marine produces Unifloat® concrete floating dock systems as well as timber and metal frame dock systems. The company also produces Unistack® dry stack systems for marinas worldwide.