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California Bars E-Verify Requirement11-14-11 | News
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California Bars E-Verify Requirement




This map shows the status of E-Verify legislation. States in red require all employers to use the system, states in yellow mandate that state agencies, contractors and subcontractors use the system; the states in blue demand that state agencies and public employers use the system, and states in green “encourage use” of the system. States in white do not require the use of E-Verify currently.

A new law from California prohibits the state, cities and counties from mandating that private employers use E-Verify. Cities that adopted E-Verify rules are now preparing to comply with the new state law.

"As a nation, we are in such desperate need of immigration reform," said Sara Sadhwani, strategy director for the California Immigrant Policy Center. "While a handful of cities in California and a handful of states across the country have moved to mandate the use of this kind of program, it's very misguided."

The state ban received broad support, including the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Farm Bureau Federation, which questioned the accuracy of the databases used by the federal system.

Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Sunnyvale), who introduced the bill, said he felt that mandatory E-Verify was an unnecessary burden on businesses.

"It was costly, time-consuming. It's unfair for big businesses and definitely for small businesses," he said. "Why make a flawed system mandatory?"

Fong said the system often misidentifies U.S. citizens and legal immigrants. One such worker is Jessica St. Pierre, 22, who said she was fired from her job at a telecommunications company because her name was not correctly entered into the E-Verify system. It took her four months to get another job.

"I don't see it as being a help, but a burden for people that live here," St. Pierre said. "This system here is just not up to par in what it's supposed to be doing, so why have it?"

For Conservative Activists, the battle now shifts to the federal level, where Congress is considering a measure proposed by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), and co-sponsored by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) and others, that would make a system like E-Verify mandatory for all employers.

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