On Wednesday, June 12, Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) introduced a bill in the Senate that would make the E-Verify program permanent. E-Verify, the online tool that allows employers to input a new hire’s driver’s license and Social Security information to verify whether the person is eligible to work, is required for all federal government employees and contractors. However, enrollment for the private sector remains voluntary. The bill would not force all private entities to enroll or use the program. Instead, it would just make its renewal, which is under the current system done by Congress every year, a thing of the past.
E-Verify was first introduced in 1996 as a pilot program by the Clinton administration and is now administered by the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. It is set to expire at the end of September.