Official: E-Verify changes in the works

 

"E-Verify is a tool to ensure a legal workforce. It assists employers in abiding by the law and it also protects the workforce," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Alejandro Mayorkas said after a news conference at department headquarters. "If E-Verify is not renewed, in my opinion we will need a different vehicle to accomplish those very fundamental objectives." - Courtesy of Jet Blue

The newly minted director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services sounded alarm bells today over the possible expiration of a program used to verify the legal status of workers in the country -- even as his agency works on plans to expand it as part of an overhaul the nation's immigration laws. Landscape contractors who use seasonal or immigrant workers need to pay attention to this program, which directly may affect their labor force.

The E-Verify program, which checks a worker's immigration status against Homeland Security Department and Social Security Administration databases, will expire at the end of this month unless Congress reauthorizes it.

"I think it would raise some important questions," added Mayorkas, a Cuban immigrant whom the Senate confirmed to run the agency last month.

During the new conference, Mayorkas said his agency is already considering changes in E-Verify on the assumption Congress eventually will pass comprehensive immigration reform that would give legal status to millions of undocumented workers in the country.

- Courtesy of NextGov.com