E-Verify is a United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) 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 illegally. 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 illegal immigrants in states that have mandated use of E-Verify for all employers, and further notes that the program may deter illegal immigration to the United States in general.
History
The program was originally established in 1997 as the Basic Pilot Program along with two other programs created to protect jobs for authorized U.S. workers and to ensure a legal workforce in the United States. The others were discontinued. In the two years since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 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 – where employers are asked to deliver their I-9 records to ICE within 72 hours for inspection. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) 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 31 August 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.
During the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, E-Verify was anticipated to "be inaccessible for the duration of the shutdown." Also, "the 'three-day rule' for processing employment eligibility queries in E-Verify is indefinitely suspended pending a resolution of 2013 funding impasse."
