The Case for States to Enact E-Verify Laws

It has long been obvious that we need to turn off the jobs magnet, but with 1.2 million “known gotaways” over our porous border during the Biden administration, it’s more urgent than ever that E-Verify requirements be implemented for all employers.

In The Washington Post, Henry Olsen made a wonderful case that one of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ top priorities in the coming months should be a statewide E-Verify mandate for all employers:

He could do [something tangible] by requiring Florida businesses to use E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of job applicants. Eight states already mandate the use of E-Verify, and DeSantis expanded Florida’s use of the system in 2021, when he signed a law requiring public employers and private employers who contract with them to use the system. But that law exempts purely private-sector employers, which hire the bulk of Florida’s workers. That means migrants who arrive in the Sunshine State illegally can still find plenty of jobs.

DeSantis would make national news and differentiate himself from Trump if he moved to close that loophole. Florida would be the largest state to require E-Verify if he were to succeed.

Meanwhile, in Congress, Senator Grassley (R-IA) has excellent mandatory E-Verify bill” target=”_blank”>re-introduced an excellent mandatory E-Verify bill. It’s one of NumbersUSA’s Great Solutions.

E-Verify is an Internet-based system that compares information entered by an employer from an employee’s Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, to records available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to confirm employment eligibility.

The House Judiciary Committee held its first immigration hearing last week: The Biden Border Crisis: Part I

ANDREW GOOD is the Director of the Media Standards Program for NumbersUSA