E-Verify can help public fight illegal immigration
Look for the Logo

Comprehensive immigration reform is paralyzed in Washington, and the government’s premier workplace enforcement program is stalled in the courts. Local governments are filling the vacuum of leadership on illegal immigration, while employers enjoy a virtual holiday from mandatory checks on their workers’ immigration status.

No matter how many times we complain that this situation is unacceptable, it’s obvious that a federal fix to this mess is nowhere in sight. But there is something that consumers and law-abiding businesses can do to prod the process forward.

The Department of Homeland Security wants businesses to voluntarily participate in E-Verify, a pilot program in which employers check Social Security numbers are checked against a government database to ensure that they are valid. Court challenges are preventing Homeland Security from enforcing mandatory compliance.

Until these challenges are resolved, we’d like to encourage businesses not only to volunteer for E-Verify but to advertise their compliance so consumers can be better informed about the people behind the companies they patronize. Registration takes less than an hour.

Already, 33,000 employers use E-Verify nationwide. Why shouldn’t they proudly declare it? They could, if Homeland Security distributed window stickers that participating businesses could place at their entrances. Companies known to have employed illegal immigrants in the past, such as Pilgrim’s Pride and Swift, could rebuild consumer confidence by placing the E-Verify logo directly on their product packaging or advertisements.

That way, consumers could be assured that when they purchase a product, their dollars won’t go to employ illegal immigrants. Fraudulent use of the logo is possible, but federal law already imposes stiff fines and possible imprisonment for employers falsely claiming compliance.

The absence of an E-Verify logo should not be misinterpreted by the public as evidence that a business employs illegal immigrants. But the logo’s presence would give consumers the option of actively supporting companies that go the extra step to comply with the law.

This isn’t a substitute for the action Congress and the White House must take on comprehensive immigration reform. But in the interim, an E-Verify logo would remind consumers that their spending choices can have a direct impact on hiring decisions.
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