Obama postpones E-Verify for Federal Contractors

This comes from our contacts in the Senate:

Obama Administration Postpones E-Verify Requirements for Federal Contractors

From: The Committee on the Judiciary - Minority Staff
Sent By: kelsey.whitlock@mail.house.gov
Date: 1/29/2009

January 29, 2009

Dear Colleague,

I write to inform you that the Obama administration has delayed implementation of a rule to keep illegal immigrants out of the federal workforce.

Yesterday, at the same time President Obama was pushing for passage of the stimulus package to help the unemployed, his Administration quietly delayed implementation of a rule designed precisely for that purpose: the requirement that federal contractors use E-Verify. A key concern is that the move could be a prelude to withdrawing the requirement altogether.

Yesterday Obama said, “The workers who are returning home to tell their husbands and wives and children that they no longer have a job…they need help now.” But the Washington Business Journal reported yesterday that “[t]he Obama administration has postponed until May 21 the implementation of a new rule that requires federal contractors to use the E-Verify system for checking the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S.” It was scheduled to go into effect Feb. 20.
More than 100,000 businesses across the nation now participate, and more are signing up every day. E-Verify immediately confirms 99.4% of work-eligible employees. More than six million queries have been made using the program, all at a minimal cost. Of the less than 1% who had issues to resolve, 95% said that their problem was resolved with the Social Security Administration in a timely, courteous and efficient manner. More than six million queries have been made using the program.
Participating employers are very happy with the program. Last year, a USCIS evaluation found that 96% of participating employers did not believe that it overburdened their staffs. According to the National Federation for Independent Business, 76% of members said an E-Verify-type system would be a minimal or no burden. NFIB also supports a bill that would make E-Verify mandatory.
U.S. citizens and legal immigrant workers should not have to compete with illegal immigrants for employment. We should preserve these increasingly scarce jobs for them. Anything else is an affront to U.S. citizens and legal immigrant workers.
For more information about this matter, please contact Jamie Zuieback with the Judiciary Committee at (202) 225-6906.

Sincerely,


Lamar Smith
Ranking Member
House Judiciary Committee