An op-ed on Townhall.com makes the argument for mandatory E-Verify for all U.S. employers.
The op-ed's author, Dr. Mark Thies, Dow Chemical Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at Clemson University, points out that the Trump Organization, after reports that several illegal aliens had been employed by some of its properties in New York and New Jersey, has begun to use E-Verify to ensure that all its employees are authorized to work in the United States. Thies argues this should be the required practice for all employers.
As it now stands, the use of E-Verify is voluntary, except in a handful of states that have made it mandatory for business operating within their borders.
E-Verify has existed in some form since 1996, and it's remarkably easy to use. Enrolled companies simply enter the name, birthdate, and Social Security number from a new hire's I-9 form (which itself is highly subject to fraud) into the online system, and they're quickly told whether or not the employee is legally eligible to work.
Nearly 99 percent of new hires are verified as eligible within 24-hours. Most of the remaining 1 percent are eventually found to be illegal immigrants.
E-Verify is free and available to every employer in the country. My employer, Clemson University, has been using E-Verify for years now, and I've never heard of a legal immigrant having a problem.
Thies writes that if all employers had to use E-Verify it "would hold employers accountable for their unlawful hiring practices, while humanely reducing the incentive for workers to make the dangerous trip to come here illegally."
Under the current I-9 paper form system, employers may circumvent laws prohibiting the hiring of unauthorized workers much more easily than if E-Verify were mandatory. Making it more difficult to hire illegal aliens would reduce illegal immigration, including visa overstayers.
The largest benefit. Thies says, would be more open jobs for American workers and a boost in pay for those who must now compete with illegal aliens for work.
Read the full op-ed at Townhall.com.
