Employment Verification

Verification of an employee's authorization to work has been a tenet of U.S. immigration policy since 1986, when Congress first required employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of their workers. This less-known pillar of immigration enforcement, designed to address the jobs magnet that draws workers into the country illegally, is receiving new attention as the federal government continues to refine and expand its electronic employment eligibility verification system, known as E-Verify. The research here examines issues associated with electronic employment verification and challenges in developing an effective system.

Recent Activity

Articles June 28, 2023 Activism on Immigration by U.S. States Is Back, with New Tactics and Different Targets By Muzaffar Chishti and Julia Gelatt	Reports July 2020 Dismantling and Reconstructing the U.S. Immigration System: A Catalog of Changes under the Trump Presidency By Sarah Pierce and Jessica Bolter
Reports May 2019 Immigration-Related Policy Changes in the First Two Years of the Trump Administration By Sarah Pierce	Articles January 24, 2018 Shifting Gears, Trump Administration Launches High-Profile Worksite Enforcement Operations By Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Jessica Bolter
Reports January 2018 Trump’s First Year on Immigration Policy: Rhetoric vs. Reality By Sarah Pierce, Jessica Bolter and Andrew Selee	Articles October 19, 2017 Will White House Immigration Wish List Tank Emerging DREAMer Momentum in Congress? By Muzaffar Chishti, Jessica Bolter, and Sarah Pierce
Multimedia December 15, 2015 Leadership Visions: A Discussion with Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz-Massieu	Articles August 26, 2015 Business as Usual? Regularizing Foreign Labor in Costa Rica By Gloriana Sojo-Lara

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Reports July 2020 Dismantling and Reconstructing the U.S. Immigration System: A Catalog of Changes under the Trump Presidency By Sarah Pierce and Jessica Bolter	Reports May 2019 Immigration-Related Policy Changes in the First Two Years of the Trump Administration By Sarah Pierce
Reports January 2018 Trump’s First Year on Immigration Policy: Rhetoric vs. Reality By Sarah Pierce, Jessica Bolter and Andrew Selee	Reports February 2014 Curbing the Influence of "Bad Actors" in International Migration (Transatlantic Council Statement) By Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Reports January 2014 A Strategic Framework for Creating Legality and Order in Immigration By Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Will Somerville	Policy Briefs January 2014 IRCA in Retrospect: Guideposts for Today’s Immigration Reform By Muzaffar Chishti and Charles Kamasaki
Fact Sheets August 2013 Side-by-Side Comparison of 2013 Senate Immigration Bill with Individual 2013 House Bills	Fact Sheets April 2013 Side-by-Side Comparison of 2013 Senate Immigration Bill with 2006 and 2007 Senate Legislation

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at a conference in Tampa.

Policy Beat

June 28, 2023

Activism on Immigration by U.S. States Is Back, with New Tactics and Different Targets

Renewed U.S. state activism on immigration has echoes of the early 2010s, when Arizona’s SB 1070 defined a Republican-led push to increase enforcement that was ultimately muted by the courts and public backlash. Newer strategies rely on a novel array of tactics including migrant busing, litigation, and lawmaking. States are also moving in opposite directions, with some expanding rights for unauthorized immigrants, as this article details.

Policy Beat

January 24, 2018

Shifting Gears, Trump Administration Launches High-Profile Worksite Enforcement Operations

An unannounced sweep of 98 convenience stores by U.S. immigration authorities—resulting in the arrest of 21 unauthorized workers—may signal a new approach to worksite enforcement under the Trump administration, moving away from a strategy of paper-based audits that resulted in higher employer fines and fewer worker arrests. This article explores worksite enforcement over recent decades.

Policy Beat

October 19, 2017

Will White House Immigration Wish List Tank Emerging DREAMer Momentum in Congress?

The Trump administration has released a list of hardline immigration demands—including border wall funding, restrictions on federal grants to “sanctuary” cities, and cuts to legal immigration—in exchange for legislation protecting DREAMers. This article examines the prospects for these proposals and more broadly for a legislative fix to resolve the status of unauthorized immigrants brought to the United States as children.

NicaraguanCoffeePickers IngmarZahorsky Flickr

Feature

August 26, 2015

Business as Usual? Regularizing Foreign Labor in Costa Rica

With the growing urbanization and consolidation of Nicaraguan immigrants in sectors such as construction and domestic service, Costa Rica has shifted its focus from immigration enforcement to integration. Tension has emerged between the government and private sector as a new mechanism for regularizing unauthorized immigrant workers has failed to gain traction.

Feature

April 30, 2009

The Basics of E-Verify, the U.S. Employer Verification System

Just a fraction of all U.S. employers use E-Verify, a federal system that checks potential employees' immigration status and their eligibility to work. MPI's Marc Rosenblum explores E-Verify's history, how it works, and the arguments for and against making it mandatory.

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EVENT PHOTO 20155.12.14 MEXICAN FOREIGN SECRETARY2L

Video, Audio

December 15, 2015

Leadership Visions: A Discussion with Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz-Massieu

An MPI Leadership Visions discussion with the Foreign Minister of Mexico, Claudia Ruiz-Massieu, for her first public appearance in Washington, DC.

Video, Audio

October 31, 2013

10th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

The 10th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference featured keynotes by U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, as well as panel discussions covering a range of key immigration topics.

Video, Audio

August 7, 2013

A House Divided: Divergent Views in Congress Over Immigration Reform - A Video Chat

MPI experts participate in a video chat shortly after the Migration Policy Institute released an analysis comparing the major provisions of the Senate bill to those of the individual House bills considered to date in House committees.

Video, Audio

January 7, 2013

Immigration Enforcement in the United States: The Rise of a Formidable Machinery

MPI has released a major study that describes and analyzes today’s immigration enforcement programs, as they have developed and grown in the 25 years since IRCA launched the current enforcement era.

Audio

October 1, 2012

9th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

The conference offers thoughtful, evidence-based law and policy analysis and discussion of cutting-edge immigration issues.

Recent Activity

Reports

February 2014

Curbing the Influence of "Bad Actors" in International Migration (Transatlantic Council Statement)

This Transatlantic Council on Migration Statement assesses the continuum of policies needed to disrupt illegal migration-related activities and addresses the conditions that make them possible. It examines the role of migration "bad actors"—human traffickers and unscrupulous employers, among them—who operate and profit in this environment, and considers how governments can deploy resources to discourage their actions.

Policy Briefs

January 2014

IRCA in Retrospect: Guideposts for Today’s Immigration Reform

This policy brief traces the successes and failures of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which represented the first and most comprehensive legislation to take on the issue of illegal immigration to the United States. The brief makes the case that IRCA's major flaws were rooted in statutory design more than regulatory challenges and implementation by the administrative agencies.

Reports

January 2014

A Strategic Framework for Creating Legality and Order in Immigration

This report analyzes how governments ought to best allocate their resources to address the risks associated with migration—the "immigration harms" that undermine the positive economic and social benefits of immigration—including choosing which threats to tackle and where to prioritize enforcement efforts. Immigration policymakers can learn from other public policy regulation efforts to ensure that regulatory actions advance the public interest.

Video, Audio

October 31, 2013

10th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference

Video, Audio, Webinars

August 7, 2013

A House Divided: Divergent Views in Congress Over Immigration Reform - A Video Chat

Fact Sheets

August 2013

Side-by-Side Comparison of 2013 Senate Immigration Bill with Individual 2013 House Bills

This fact sheet offers a detailed review of the comprehensive immigration reform legislation approved by the U.S. Senate in June 2013 and compares its major provisions with those of the five targeted immigration bills approved by the House Judiciary Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee.

Fact Sheets

April 2013

Side-by-Side Comparison of the 2013 Senate Immigration Framework with 2006 and 2007 Senate Legislation

MPI has completed an analysis of the major provisions in the 2013 framework, comparing them to provisions of the legislation the Senate considered in 2006 and 2007.

Fact Sheets

April 2013

Side-by-Side Comparison of 2013 Senate Immigration Bill with 2006 and 2007 Senate Legislation

This fact sheet compares key components of immigration reform outlined in the 2013 Senate immigration bill against provisions included in bills considered by the Senate in 2006 and 2007: border security, detention, and enforcement; worksite enforcement; visa reforms; earned legalization of unauthorized immigrants; strengthening the U.S. economy and workforce; and integration of new Americans.

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Employment Verification

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