E‑Verify: The Impact of National Employment Verification on Work, Privacy, and Liberty

Capitol Hill Briefing

September 10, 2015 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT

B-340 Rayburn House Office Building

Featuring Alex Nowrasteh, Immigration Policy Analyst, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute; Jim Harper, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute; Jessie Hahn, Labor and Employment Policy Attorney, National Immigration Law Center; and Kristi Boswell, Director of Congressional Relations, Labor/Immigration, American Farm Bureau Federation; moderated by Peter Russo, Director of Congressional Affairs, Cato Institute.

Without congressional reauthorization, E-Verify, the electronic employment eligibility verification program, will sunset on September 30. E-Verify is intended to screen illegal immigrants out of the job market by turning off the “jobs magnet” that attracts them to American soil.

Many policymakers want to mandate E-Verify as part of an enforcement-only immigration policy. But its high error rate will delay or prevent employment for many current U.S. citizens, legal immigrants, and migrant workers. Furthermore, E-Verify is incapable of meaningfully locking unlawful immigrants out of America’s job market. If E-Verify is ever made permanent, and its inadequacy in stemming the flow of illegal migrants made apparent, the likely outcome will be the creation of a biometric identification system capable of regulating our lives in areas far outside of immigration enforcement. Join us for a discussion of E-Verify and its many perils.