Lawmakers in at least 11 states want all employers to confirm job applicants can legally work in the U.S., a requirement supporters say will deter illegal immigration and put Americans first in line for open jobs.
“We owe it to Nebraska citizens to make sure they are getting access to those jobs,” Nebraska Sen. Kathleen Kauth, the bill sponsor, said before the Business and Labor Committee this week.
Kauth, who like all Nebraska lawmakers is nominally nonpartisan, is one of a group of mostly Republicans across the country who have proposed requiring all employers to use E-Verify, a federal database that checks job applicants’ identity and work authorization information against federal records.
Numbers USA, a national group that advocates for immigration reduction, has made mandatory E-Verify its top priority in the states this session, said Andrew Good, the group’s director of state government relations.
“It’s the biggest single deterrent that a state can stand up that we’ve seen,” he said, pointing to studies that show E-Verify mandates reduce illegal immigration.
Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi and South Carolina require all private sector employers to use E-Verify, according to Numbers USA. Five additional states require businesses with more than a certain number of employees to enroll in the system.
Interest in E-Verify mandates has grown this year, Good said, as GOP lawmakers rush to support the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on migration and deport millions of undocumented people.
But efforts to expand E-Verify requirements face stiff opposition from civil rights groups and some employers — particularly farm operators, home builders, hospitality businesses and others that rely on immigrant labor.
Opponents argue that E-Verify adds unnecessary red tape to the hiring process, isn’t always accurate, doesn’t deter bad actors, and can encourage hiring discrimination.
“Requiring E-Verify at the state level creates another layer of bureaucracy and government inefficiency that our members do not want, especially when they already file federal I-9 forms to verify employment eligibility,” Kris Bousquet, executive director of the Nebraska State Dairy Association, said at the recent Nebraska committee hearing.
Research shows that many employers flout state E-Verify laws. Fewer than half the employers in states that required all or most businesses to use E-Verify in 2015 were enrolled in the program that year, a 2020 working paper from the Dallas Federal Reserve found.
“Initially, there’s an impact, because employers think — oh, I have to sign up for this system,” said Madeline Zavodny, an economics professor at the University of North Florida who co-authored the working paper.
But there’s no easy way for states to track if employers are signing up to use a federal database or using it to vet potential hires, she said. “What you’re really relying on is almost voluntary compliance by employers.”
It’s been illegal for U.S. employers to knowingly hire undocumented workers since 1986. The federal government has since then required employees to provide, and employers to examine, work authorization documents. That information is recorded in an I-9 form employers keep on file but do not report to federal immigration agencies.
Congress created what became the E-Verify system in the 1990s to help employers double-check job applicants’ work authorization. The federal government requires federal agencies and contractors to use the database to screen potential hires.
Many states also require state agencies to use E-Verify, and some extend the requirement to state contractors and other private-sector employers.
Florida Gov. Ron Desantis (R) in 2023 signed off on the most recent state E-Verify mandate, a law that requires all employers with more than 25 employees to use the system.
Lawmakers in red states such as Iowa and Ohio seriously debated but ultimately rejected E-Verify expansion bills last year.
Utah lawmakers have already tabled a universal E-Verify bill this session, the Salt Lake Tribune reported, citing concerns that the requirement would be difficult to enforce and could exacerbate labor shortages.
Republican-led bills are still up for debate in states such as Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
And in Florida, a Democrat has introduced a particularly aggressive proposal.
Florida Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo’s (D) bill goes beyond requiring all businesses hiring conventional employees to use E-Verify. It would also require employers to vet independent contractors, domestic workers such as nannies, and all occasional or irregular workers who perform more than 40 hours of labor.
His bill would create harsh new penalties for noncompliance. Repeat offenders would lose their business licenses for five years and owe fines of up to $50,000, for instance.
The proposal all but dares DeSantis and GOP lawmakers to prove their commitment to fighting illegal immigration, an issue they have made a top priority.
Pizzo said his caucus members, like their Republican colleagues, want to make sure migrants aren’t out-competing legal residents for jobs, housing and other services.
He said it’s hypocritical for GOP leaders to boast about getting “tough” on immigration without doing more to stop employers from hiring undocumented workers.
“What you have to understand is that the common denominator, the actual impetus [to migrate], is jobs and employment,” Pizzo said. “If you turn that off at the source, and the world finds out that you don’t play around, and you mean what you say — that’s when the message starts getting out.”
Florida Rep. Berny Jacques (R) has proposed a separate bill that would require all employers to use E-Verify to hire conventional employees.
Jacques said he’ll work with any of his colleagues to expand E-Verify, but noted that border security hasn’t been a top priority for Pizzo in the past.
“I just hope it’s not some sort of political stunt,” Jacques said of the Democrat’s bill.