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No. 612

March 5, 2008

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Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification

Franz Kafka's Solution to Illegal Immigration

by Jim Harper

Executive Summary

work legally. Deemed ineligible by a database,

In last summer's debate over immigration

millions each year would go pleading to the

reform, Congress treated a national electronic

Department of Homeland Security and the

employment eligibility verification (EEV) system

Social Security Administration for the right to

as a matter of near consensus. Intended to

work. By increasing the value of committing

strengthen internal enforcement of the immigra-

identity fraud, EEV would cause that crime's rates

tion laws, electronic EEV is an Internet-based

to rise.

employee vetting system that the federal govern-

Creating an accurate EEV system would re-

ment would require every employer to use.

quire a national identification (ID) system, cost-

Broad immigration reform failed before Con-

ing about $20 billion to create and hundreds of

gress thoroughly considered national EEV, but the

millions more per year to operate. Even if it were

lines of debate have been drawn. Advocates in

free, the country should reject a national ID sys-

Congress will try to attach a nationwide worker reg-

tem. It would cause law-abiding American citi-

istration system to any immigration bill Congress

zens to lose more of their privacy as government

considers, and the Bush administration recently

records about them grew and were converted to

announced steps to promote such a system.

untold new purposes. "Mission creep" all but

A mandatory national EEV system would have

guarantees that the federal government would

substantial costs yet still fail to prevent illegal

use an EEV system to extend federal regulatory

immigration. It would deny a sizable percentage

control over Americans' lives even further.

of law-abiding American citizens the ability to

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Jim Harper is director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute and author of the book Identity Crisis:

How Identification Is Overused and Misunderstood.