E-Verify
E-Verify is a United States Department of Homeland Security website that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees, both U.S. and foreign citizens, to work in the United States. The site was originally established in 1996 as the Basic Pilot Program to prevent companies from hiring people who had violated immigration laws and entered the United States unlawfully. In August 2007, the DHS started requiring all federal contractors and vendors to use E-Verify. The Internet-based program is free and maintained by the United States government. While federal law does not mandate use of E-Verify for non-federal employees, some states have mandated use of E-Verify or similar programs, while others have discouraged the program.
E-Verify compares information from an employee's Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 to data from U.S. government records. If the information matches, that employee is eligible to work in the United States. If there is a mismatch, E-Verify alerts the employer and the employee is allowed to work while resolving the problem. Employees must contact the appropriate agency to resolve the mismatch within eight federal government work days from the referral date. The program is operated by the DHS in partnership with the Social Security Administration. According to the DHS website, more than 700,000 employers used E-Verify as of 2018.
Research shows that E-Verify harms the labor market outcomes of illegal immigrants and improves the labor market outcomes of Mexican legal immigrants and U.S.-born Hispanics, but has no impact on labor market outcomes for non-Hispanic white Americans. A 2016 study suggests that E-Verify reduces the number of unauthorized immigrants in states that have mandated use of E-Verify for all employers, and further notes that the program may deter irregular immigration to the United States in general.
History
The program was originally established in 1997 as the Basic Pilot program, a four-year pilot of a program that allowed employers to search government agencies' databases in order to determine whether a worker is legally allowed to work in the U.S. Along with two other pilot programs, it was created to protect jobs for authorized U.S. workers and to ensure a legal workforce in the United States. At the time, there was also another pilot program, the Employment Verification Pilot, could only verify work authorization for non-U.S. citizens; anyone who claimed to be a citizen could not be verified. Another pilot program, the Citizen Attestation Pilot, allowed employers to look up an employee's social security number in a database maintained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The Employment Verification Pilot and the Citizen Attestation Pilot were later discontinued.Originally, an employer would hire an employee, have the Form I-9 filled out, and then call the Social Security Administration to ask whether the employee was either a U.S. citizen or a legal immigrant. If the Social Security Administration did not have that information, the employer would then look up the employee in a database maintained by the Immigration and Naturalization Services. If the employee was still not found, employer would need to call Immigration and Naturalization Services' office.
In the two years since Immigration and Customs Enforcement finalized the regulations for electronically storing and/or generating I-9 records there has also been a steady increase in the number of administrative I-9 audits, in which employers are asked to deliver their I-9 records to ICE within 72 hours for inspection.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Verification Division reported that over 16,000 E-Verify compliance letters were issued in Fiscal Year 2010. Another 13,000 letters and over 26,000 emails were sent to employers in Fiscal Year 2011. Additionally, another 23,000 e-mails were sent in the first half of Fiscal Year 2012, alone.
Operations
All employers, by law, must complete Form I-9. E-Verify is closely linked to Form I-9, but participation in E-Verify is voluntary for most employers. After an employee is hired to work for pay, the employee and employer complete Form I-9. After an employee begins work for pay, the employer enters the information from Form I-9 into E-Verify. E-Verify then compares that information against millions of government records and returns a result.On August 31, 2007, the program began to include facial image data to help enhance searches. The 14 million images kept by federal immigration authorities are being used in the program, and the government is in talks with some states to cross reference with state drivers license records.
Impact
A 2015 study found that E-Verify reduced the average earnings of undocumented immigrants, improved labor market outcomes for male Mexican immigrants and U.S.-born Hispanic men, and had no impact on U.S.-born non-Hispanic whites. A 2016 study found that E-Verify "reduces the number of less-educated prime-age immigrants from Mexico and Central America—immigrants who are likely to be unauthorized—living in a state. We find evidence that some new migrants are diverted to other states, but also suggestive evidence that some already-present migrants leave the country entirely." A 2019 analysis by the Cato Institute, which supports increased immigration, found that while E-Verify used to be effective at spotting illegal immigrants, it was no longer so. The analysis estimated that the system only spotted the hiring of 16.1 percent of illegal immigrant workers in the fiscal year of 2018.Mandated use
Federal government
As of September 2007, most of the federal government did not use the system when hiring employees, but an Office of Management and Budget directive mandates that all federal government agencies sign up to use E-Verify by October 1, 2007.Social Security Administration failed to perform required verifications of the Social Security numbers of 19 percent of its own new hires during an 18-month period, according to a January 2010 report from the agency's inspector general.
Federal contractors
As of September 8, 2009, employers with federal contracts or subcontracts that contain the Federal Acquisition Regulation Employees performing direct, substantial work under those federal contracts and 2) New hires organization-wide, regardless of whether they are working on a federal contract. A federal contractor or subcontractor who has a contract with the FAR E-Verify clause also has the option to verify the company's entire workforce.OPT extension for students
In April 2008, the U.S. government extended the duration of post-completion work authorization, known as "Optional Practical Training", from 12 months to an additional 24 months. This change allows for a total of 36 months of work authorization through the various OPT authorizations granted by USCIS for certain qualifying students who have completed U.S. degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.Students are eligible for this extension only if their employer participates in the E-Verify program. If an employer does not participate in E-Verify, students working for those employers are limited to 12 months of OPT and cannot receive the 24-month extension, even if they otherwise qualify for it.
State laws
There are a number of state laws requiring or limiting the use of E-Verify for employers. According to a 2012 survey by the Center for Immigration Studies, 16 states require use of E-Verify in some form. The survey found that six states have laws requiring all or nearly all businesses to use E-Verify to determine employment eligibility: Arizona, Mississippi, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. Five states require use of E-Verify by public employers and all or most public contractors: Indiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Missouri. Three states require only public contractors to use E-Verify: Louisiana, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Idaho only requires public employers to use E-Verify, while Florida only requires it for agencies under direction of the governor. Colorado and Utah encourage use of E-Verify, but allow for alternative means of employment verification. An E-Verify-only mandate in Utah is contingent on the state's effort to create a state-level guestworker program. The survey also found that some states have moved in the opposite direction, limiting or discouraging use of E-Verify: California, Rhode Island, and Illinois.In 2011, the Supreme Court of the U.S. rejected a suit arguing that Arizona's state law, which can cause employers found failing to use E-Verify to lose their state business licenses, was pre-empted by federal law. The ruling effectively confirmed that states may mandate the use of E-Verify.
As of January 1, 2023, the following states require E-Verify for some or all employers: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.