Trump urged to nationalize ‘E-Verify’ after 700 percent surge in arrests of illegal workers
by Paul Bedard | December 28, 2018 08:34 AM
President Trump is being encouraged to sign an executive order on E-Verify after immigration police said that arrests of illegal immigrant workers and employers surged 700 percent.
Led by advocates of tighter immigration laws, Trump is getting advice to nationalize the E-Verify system that the federal government uses to make sure that contractors are hiring employees that are legally allowed to work in the United States.
“There are many changes that could be made to the immigration laws that would enable the United States to gain control over its illegal population,” said Andrew R. Arthur, a former immigration judge.
“Of all of the proposals, however, E-Verify would be the most effective at curbing illegal entries and limiting nonimmigrant overstays. And the president could likely make it mandatory through executive action,” added Arthur, now a legal expert with the Center for Immigration Studies.
The push for the simple employment verification system, currently a voluntary opt-in for non-government contractors, comes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed stunning new statistics of workplace enforcement probes.
The agency and Homeland Security Investigations, which had promised to step up investigations, announced a 300 percent surge in probes. They “opened” 6,848 worksite investigations in fiscal 2018 versus 1,691 the year before. Audits jumped to 5,981 from 1,360.
Worksite arrests surged even more. The authorities made 779 criminal and 1,525 administrative worksite-related arrests compared to 139 and 172, said ICE in this Washington Examiner report by Anna Giaritelli.
In a legal analysis of E-Verify, Arthur wrote Friday that with a 60-day notice, Trump could institute the employment verification system.
He added that it has a side benefit: those who illegally enter the United States to work, and who are denied a job, often return home on their own.
And, Arthur added, E-Verify has a strong presidential record of bipartisan support and action. He wrote:
"E-Verify was so improved that its use was mandated by DHS for use by federal government contractors. President Bill Clinton had previously issued Executive Order 12989, which rendered contractors or organizational units of contractors that were not in compliance with the INA employment provisions subject to debarment, meaning that they would be ineligible for government contracts, for at least one year, subject to extension if the attorney general so determined, under the employer-sanctions compliance provisions in section 274A(e) of the INA.
President George W. Bush later issued Executive Order 13465, which amended Executive Order 12989. As the E-Verify website explains, that executive order directed "all federal departments and agencies to require contractors to utilize an electronic employment eligibility verification system" in order "to verify the employment eligibility of employees performing work under a covered federal contract." DHS thereafter "designated E-Verify as the electronic employment eligibility verification system that all federal contractors must use as required by the amended Executive Order 12989."
So, it appears that the path is clear for the president to make E-Verify mandatory. All that it requires is the will, and 60 days' notice before implementation."