E-Verify "Must Play, Must Pay" Proposed

Congressman Mark Shuler of North Carolina and Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas are proposing legislation to require all employers in the country, not just those doing business with the federal government, to check the citizenship and work authorization status of every employee through the Homeland Security Department's E-Verify system. At the same time, during hearings by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today, Representative Jackie Speier of California proposed the imposition of a fee for each employer use of the system to check a prospective or current employee's authorization to work in the United States. The Social Security Administration estimates that a mandate to use E-Verify for checking up on everyone working in the country would cause the annual need for another 450,000 people to visit Social Security field offices to correct mistaken information now lodged in the system.