Free Market Coalition Warns Against E-Verify Mandate

Washington, D.C., March 10, 2011 — The House Judiciary Committee is currently considering a law that would require all private employers in the United States to use the electronic employment eligibility verification system E-Verify.

However, a coalition of free market public interest groups and advocacy organizations issued a joint letter today (PDF) urging Congress to reject an E-Verify mandate.

“Mandating that employers nationwide use this ineffective and error-prone system would seriously harm small businesses, greatly expand unwarranted government intrusion into Americans’ private lives, and push hundreds of thousands of Americans out of the workforce due to systematic bureaucratic errors,” the coalition told Congress.

“E-Verify is fundamentally antithetical to the principles of economic liberty and individual rights upon which this country was founded,” said Fred Smith, President of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “U.S. citizens should not have to obtain the federal government’s permission to earn an honest living.”

Mandating E-Verify use has already been tried in Arizona, with disastrous results. Employers in Arizona are hiring off the books in record numbers to avoid the regulatory tax imposed by E-Verify.

“E-Verify is a regulatory predator,” said CEI Immigration Policy Analyst Alex Nowrasteh. “If unleashed, it will prey on the most vulnerable elements of our economy. Small businesses in America simply cannot afford to be bled dry by E-Verify.”

Read the letter here.