Bush issues executive order on E-Verify
By Rob Smith, Ceridian manager of Government Relations
On June 6, President Bush signed a presidential order requiring all federal contractors to use the E-Verify program to check their new hires' work eligibility. This is sure to be a drastic change in hiring practices for all employers. While E-Verify use is currently voluntary, Ceridian Connection has reported for several years that the system will eventually become mandatory for all employers. President Bush's order moves toward that end. Program historyE-Verify was established as a pilot program in 1996 to allow businesses in a few states with traditionally high illegal immigrant populations to verify new hires' work eligibility. Initially, the program did not attract much interest. This was due mostly to the government's lax enforcement of immigration and work eligibility laws. The general rule for the past several decades has been that once an individual made it across the U.S. border, law enforcement was going to do little to find them. This did not give companies much incentive to add another layer to the hiring process. By 2000, a scant 5,000 businesses had enrolled in the service. E-Verify (then called Basic Pilot) may have been headed toward cancellation. However, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks ushered in a host of new security concerns and brought to the forefront a long-standing underlying current of xenophobia in American society. Enforcement for a change
Beginning around 2003, the U.S. government dramatically stepped up work eligibility enforcement. From 2002 to 2007, the number of criminal arrests for violating these laws increased from 25 to 863 across the country, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) increased the penalties for employing undocumented workers. During that time, Congress amended E-Verify to make it available in all 50 states. The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate also passed bills to make the program mandatory for all employers. The legislation eventually died as Congress was unable to agree on other immigration reform measures, but the support for mandatory E-Verify remains. Once it became clear that Congress was not going to pass a sweeping immigration bill, the state governments began taking up their own immigration measures. As a result, nearly 20 states require employers with state contracts to use E-Verify, and three states require all employers to use the system. Those laws, combined with the enforcement push by the DHS, caused program enrollment to increase to more than 69,000 enrollees. The DHS estimates that the president's order will more than triple the current enrollment. How did we get to this point? Do we need to make every employer prove to the government that their new hires can legally work in our country? Unfortunately, this in not a simple yes or no question. Complicated past and a more complicated future
Throughout its history, the United States has depended on immigrant labor. Immigrants from China were largely responsible for the great railroad that spans America. Irish immigrants can be credited for building the White House and several of the massive government buildings in our nation's capitol. Washington's oldest church, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, was established to give the Irish Catholic laborers a place to worship. The list of immigrant contributions to American economy, culture and society reaches far beyond the scope of this article, but the country would not be what it is today had it not been for a steady influx of people from other countries. As we enter a new world of global competition, it will become more critical for the United States to be able to attract and retain the most talented and hardest workers the world has to offer. For the most part, the U.S. government has recognized the valuable contributions of immigrants -- legal or not. The government has been willing to turn a blind eye toward those who enter the country illegally but are willing to do jobs that Americans will not do or to fill in labor gaps that exist in many sectors in our economy. However, this policy has worked almost too well. Today, by a very conservative estimate, the U.S. Census Bureau believes there are approximately 12 million undocumented individuals living in the United States. Some independent estimates put this number as high as 30 or 40 million. To put this into perspective, 12 million people is about equal to the combined populations of New York City and Chicago. The large number of undocumented individuals in the United States is an issue. And, the government should not make a policy of allowing employers to openly flaunt its laws, no matter what the benefit. New order
E-Verify may have its negative aspects and shortcomings, but it is the only tool the government has to verify the country's workforce eligibility. It is also the only service employers have to avoid costly DHS fines and the potential loss of their business licenses. While it may be a stretch at this point to require all employers to use E-Verify, it is apparent that the government wants to hold its contractors to a higher standard, which brings us back to the Bush order. The order applies to all businesses that enter a contract with "executive departments and agencies" for over $3,000 in work performed in the United States. These businesses are required to verify their employees' work eligibility during the term of the contract. The requirement also extends beyond the employees who perform actual work on the contract to include all employees the business hires during that time. The order also stipulates that all current employees who work on a federal contract who were hired after 1986 must be screened using E-Verify. The Department of Homeland Security, the General Services Administration, the Department of Defense, and NASA have issued regulations to implement the Bush order. These will not go into effect until the regulations are finalized, providing they are not challenged in court. Public comments will be accepted through August 11, 2008. Changes are coming for the federal contracting business, and it may not be long before the government spreads E-Verify to the rest of the U.S. workforce. Federal contractors should use the time before the regulations are finalized to become familiar with the E-Verify system or sign up for the program in advance to get a jump on the competition. The Bush Order and the implementing regulations can be viewed at the following Web sites:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/08-1348.pdf
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-13358.pdf
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