Eligible to Work? Experiments in Verifying Work Authorization
The Basic Pilot employment verification program was promising but flawed, with compliance gaps. It can only achieve its goals if made mandatory, but reassessment is first needed.
This issue brief explores the successes and failures since the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986 of various attempts to create an employment verification system that reliably establishes an employee’s eligibility to work. Through this analysis, the author evaluates the effectiveness and potential contributions of the current system and seeks to inform proposals for future initiatives.
The Basic Pilot system, in which employers reviewed and submitted I-9 document information of all new employees for verification against government databases, was initially found to be effective in curbing unauthorized employment, although the precise degree to which it achieved this end could not be ascertained. As the program stands today, the brief identifies three major problems: high tentative nonconfirmation rates for legitimate foreign-born workers, marginal employer compliance, and unattractiveness to employers. Additional issues include concerns that employer discrimination may occur as a result of tentative nonconfirmations and the system’s vulnerability to identity fraud.
The brief also finds that the Basic Pilot will likely only achieve its mandate of reducing unauthorized employment if it becomes a mandatory program for all employers in the country. So long as the Basic Pilot program remains voluntary, unauthorized workers who are unable to find work through a participating employer can simply seek employment with a non-participating employer. However, given the uncertainties which still remain in the program’s functionality, the author recommends a reassessment of the program’s strengths and weaknesses before expansion is contemplated.
About the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future
This high-level, bipartisan task force developed a comprehensive post-9/11 blueprint to redesign the U.S. immigration system with flexibility, smart enforcement, and a robust integration policy.
About the U.S. Immigration Policy Program
The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides analysis of U.S. immigration pathways, the impacts of enforcement and other policies, and the characteristics of immigrant populations.
