The regulations aren't changing Immigration and Customs Enforcement priorities such as national security and "egregious employers," said agency spokeswoman Lori Haley.

"Our goal is to go after employers who are knowingly hiring and being complicit in hiring so we can go after them criminally," Haley said.

Immigration attorney Timothy Wheelwright saw the new regulations as a sign that employers are going to be under increased scrutiny when it comes to their payrolls.

"The buildup to today from the Department of Homeland Security has been, 'get ready, we are going to start enforcing employment sanction laws,"' he said "This is their first step."

Acknowledging that there may be "consequences of the choices that Congress makes," Chertoff said, "We're going to do the very best we can to make the legal channel as appealing as possible," he said. "But at the end of the day, the enforcement of the law is going to have some consequences ... We do the very best we can to mitigate the harm, but in the end, we have to follow the law."

Utah lawmakers have also been critical of federal inaction on immigration. Rep. Glenn Donnelson, R-North Ogden, has sponsored failed legislation to require Utah employers to verify workers' identities through a federal agency. He saw Friday's announcement as a step in the right direction.

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