Expert: Mandatory E-Verify ‘Is Coming’

Nationwide mandatory E-Verify, which would weed out the vast majority of American businesses hiring illegal aliens, may be coming sooner than expected.

President of the E-Verify Employer Agent Alliance David Fowler told GCN that E-Verify “is coming” because of expansion efforts by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and President Donald Trump.

“Mandatory E-Verify appears to be something that is coming,” Fowler told GCN. “With the new administration in, I think they’re going to push for this.”

E-Verify is a hiring tool where employers must fill out I-9 forms for each employee they hire in order to ensure that the employee is legally allowed to work in the U.S. Illegal immigrants are not permitted to work in the country.

In states which mandate E-Verify already, a study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) found that there were fewer jobless Americans, as they did not have to compete for work against cheaper, illegal immigrant job-seekers.

“Millions of American citizens would find gainful employment if they did not have to compete against unauthorized workers who undercut local wage rates,” the study stated. “E-Verify plays a critical role in alleviating unfair competition against unauthorized workers; and states utilizing the program are experiencing positive job growth that outpaces national averages in the majority of cases.”

Every year, about four million young Americans enter the U.S. job market. At the same time, the U.S. admits more than one million legal immigrants, not including the estimated 11 to 30 million illegal immigrants already living in the country. Additionally, the U.S. admits almost one million temporary foreign guest workers a year through various visa programs. The combination of a need for jobs for native-born Americans and mass immigration has led to often times high unemployment and stagnant industry wages.

Fowler’s statement comes as USCIS Chief Information Officer Mark Schwartz said last month that his agency is “streamlining the [E-Verify] process and making it capable of scaling if we bring more employers,” hinting at the idea that soon, all employers across the U.S. would be subject to E-Verify.

Trump has promised to enforce E-Verify, with his original budget released in March asking for $15 million to “begin implementation” and make the anti-illegal immigration hiring tool a mandate for employers, as Breitbart News reported.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.