E-Verify is a voluntary internet-based program to help employers verify the work authorization of all new hires.
The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration. Currently, 22 states—Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia—require the use of E-Verify for at least some public and/or private employers.
Nine states—Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah—require E-Verify for all employers (Some states have exemptions for small businesses). Eleven states—Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia—require E-Verify for most public employers. Minnesota and Pennsylvania require E-Verify for some public contractors and subcontractors.
On May 26, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Arizona’s 2007 law that required the use of E-Verify by Arizona employers, punishable by suspension or revocation of the employer’s business license. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) preempts any state or local law from imposing civil or criminal sanctions (other than through licensing and similar laws) upon those who employ, or recruit or refer for a fee for employment, unauthorized immigrants. Citation: 8 U.S.C. 1324a(h). The Supreme Court, by a 5-3 vote, found that language in IRCA did not preempt the state because it was a licensing law permissible under IRCA. The E-Verify program also did not preempt the state: “although Congress had made the program voluntary at the national level, it had expressed no intent to prevent States from mandating participation.” The ruling on the case is “Chamber of Commerce of United States of America v. Whiting (No. 09-115).”