Executive Order Requires Federal Contractors to Utilize E-Verify
June 6, 2008
President George W. Bush signed an executive order on June 6, 2008, requiring all executive agencies to only contract with contractors utilizing E-Verify. "It is the policy of the executive branch to enforce fully the immigration laws of the United States, including the detection and removal of illegal aliens and the imposition of legal sanctions against employers that hire illegal aliens." In issuing the order, President Bush noted that requiring federal contractors to operate under the same employment verification standards as the executive branch "will promote economy and efficiency in Federal procurement." The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) followed up with an official designation of E-Verify as the employment eligibility verification system that all federal contractors must now use. The DHS press release is included below:
DHS Designates E-Verify as Employment Eligibility Verification System for All Federal Contractors
Release Date: June 9, 2008
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
The Department of Homeland Security today designated E-Verify, operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in partnership with the Social Security Administration, as the electronic employment eligibility verification system that all federal contractors must use as required by Executive Order 12989, as amended. E-Verify is a free Internet-based system that allows enrolled employers to confirm the legal status of new hires within seconds.
"A large part of our success in enforcing the nation's immigration laws hinges on equipping employers with the tools to determine quickly and effectively if a worker is legal or illegal," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "E-Verify is a proven tool that helps employers immediately verify the legal working status for all new hires."
President George W. Bush has amended Executive Order 12989 in order to direct all federal departments and agencies to require contractors, as a condition of each future federal contract, to agree to use an electronic employment eligibility verification system – designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security – to verify the employment eligibility of all persons hired during the contract term and all persons performing work within the United States on the federal contract.
In response to this Executive Order, Secretary Michael Chertoff today designated E-Verify as the system of choice to ensure that the federal government only does business with companies that agree to verify the legality of their new hires and further, that the specific employees tapped to perform contract services in the United States for the federal government are authorized to work in this country. Federal departments and agencies within the executive branch are already enrolling with E-Verify to check the status of all new hires within the federal workforce. Agencies responsible for federal acquisition regulations (FAR) will send a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to the Federal Register today soliciting public comment on proposed changes to these regulations. Comments will be accepted for 60 days.
More than 69,000 employers currently rely on E-Verify to determine that their new hires are authorized to work in the United States. Employers have run more than 4 million employment verification queries so far in fiscal year 2008. Of those queries, 99.5 percent of qualified employees are cleared automatically by E-Verify.
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