Electronic immigration screening likely to become widespread

SANDY — Companies landing federal government contracts will be using it. State and local contractors in Utah will be using it. And it's only a matter of time before all companies will be required to use it.

"It" is an electronic verification system to check workers' employment eligibility. Designed to keep undocumented workers from getting jobs under government contracts, systems like E-Verify likely will be used by all companies in the future, according to Roger Tsai, immigration law specialist at Parsons Behle and Latimer.

"The bottom line is that I see this as actually becoming mandatory for all employers," Tsai said Tuesday during a breakout session at the third annual Utah Procurement Symposium at the South Towne Expo Center. A total of 417 people attended the symposium, presented by the Governor's Office of Economic Development's Procurement Technical Assistance Center.

Tsai said stalled federal bills that would create comprehensive immigration reform included mandatory E-Verify use for all employers.

"A lot of employers are starting to use it so they can gain familiarity with it, just to make sure it works with their HR systems. It isn't mandatory, but I guess some employers want to get started on this."

In June, President Bush signed an executive order directing all federal departments and agencies to require contractors, as a condition of each future federal contract, to agree to use an electronic system to verify workers' employment eligibility. In Utah, state and local contractors are affected by SB81, which requires them to use a "status verification system" such as E-Verify starting July 1, 2009.

The federal requirement is for new hires and for all employees working under a federal contract. While seeming like simply another government-mandated program, verification programs can keep employers from troubles with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, Tsai said.

"Essentially, what I've heard from other employers who are currently using the system, it's a mixed bag. The majority like it because it takes away some of this guesswork — is someone authorized to work or are they not, is this document legitimate or is it not?" Tsai said.

A key element of E-Verify, once called "Basic Pilot," is that using the system provides immunity from a private discrimination lawsuit by a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, and employers enrolled in E-Verify are exempt from liability, investigations or lawsuits, Tsai said.

Utah has not been immune to ICE raids. A December 2006 raid led to the arrest of 145 workers at the Hyrum Swift & Co. plant near Logan as part of a multi-state raid that netted more than 1,200 arrests at sites in six states.

In June, James Hamilton, director of company compliance for Swift & Co., told a Utah legislative committee that his company had participated in Basic Pilot, but the system had failed to catch Swift employees who had real government-issued IDs they had obtained using stolen identities.

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