Diverse Coalition Opposes E-Verify Mandate

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 21, 2013 – This Thursday, an ideologically-diverse coalition of forty-five organizations led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, National Small Business Association, and American Civil Liberties Union called on Congress to reject attempts to mandate the employment verification system known as E-Verify.

The coalition, representing thousands of businesses and millions of Americans, sent a letter to Congress arguing that E-Verify threatens Americans’ privacy and economic well-being. “E-Verify imposes immigration enforcement costs on Americans,” the letter states. “System errors will make hundreds of thousands of legal workers visit federal offices to exercise their right to work.” The letter notes that these errors will disproportionately impact minorities and legal immigrants.

CEI Immigration Policy Analyst David Bier said that the system poses an even greater threat to privacy. “E-Verify is a national identification system,” Bier said Thursday. “E-Verify could be used to monitor or restrict access not just to employment, but any activity, based on any criteria the government might decide. Congress needs to find solutions that stop illegal immigration without threatening our privacy.”

>> Read the coalition letter here. Also, see CEI’s E-Verify Problems and Solutions here.