Question of the Week: E-Verify
These questions are culled from phone calls, letters, faxes and e-mails sent to my Thousand Oaks, Solvang, and Washington offices. Each week I will add another question and answer.
Week of May 8, 2009
• Question: What is E-Verify and how does it help deter illegal immigration?
→ Answer: Under current law, new employees must demonstrate they are legally able to work in this country by providing proof of identity and work authorization. Unfortunately, identifying fraudulent documents can be tough for even the most careful employer. As chairman of the 1995 Congressional Task Force on Immigration Reform, I helped address this problem by developing an electronic employment verification program, originally known as the Basic Pilot program and recently renamed E-Verify.
This program is superior because it is able to check proffered information against Social Security Administration and immigration records to weed out fraudulent numbers. Because we know that most illegal immigrants come to this country to find work, using E-Verify to make it difficult for them to find jobs will discourage many people from unlawfully coming to this country in the first place.
Earlier this year, the House passed a bill, H.R. 1, which would have reauthorized E-Verify through 2013. Unfortunately, the Senate version of this legislation did not include language reauthorizing E-Verify, and, in the final compromise version of the bill, the E-Verify reauthorization was also removed. However, under the provisions of H.R. 1105, the Omnibus Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2009, E-Verify was reauthorized until September 30, 2009. Further authorization should be considered later this year.
For more information about my positions on illegal immigration, please see my Illegal Immigration Issues page.
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