By Jonathan Ellett
FAIR
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) recently signed into law a bill that significantly hampers employers’ ability to utilize E-Verify to check the work authorization of their prospective employees. Following California’s lead, Illinois becomes the second state to impose restrictions on E-Verify usage.
This legislation was not the first time the use of E-Verify has been challenged in Illinois. In August 2007, the legislature passed a law which explicitly prohibited employers from using E-Verify until the U.S. government could prove its accuracy. This effort was short-lived, as an Illinois District Court struck down the law in March 2009 for violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Then, in 2023, SB 1515 was introduced which prohibited employers from voluntarily enrolling in E-Verify unless they were required to do so under state or federal law. However, Governor Pritzker vetoed that legislation stating that the bill did not do enough to protect “workers.”
This year, legislation to restrict the use of E-Verify was reintroduced. Section 13(b) of the Act broadly prohibits the use of E-Verify. Section 13(b) reads that an “employer shall not impose work authorization verification or re-verification requirements greater than those required by federal law.” As federal law does not require the use of E-Verify, this means that Illinois employers may not use E-Verify to check whether their employees are work authorized unless there is some reason (such as prior violations) that the federal government requires them to. This prohibition applies to both public and private employers.
Supporters of the bill claim to be helping workers from some sort of injustice. State Senator Javier Loera Cervantes (D-Chicago), the primary sponsor of the new law, stated that his motivation was to protect “marginalized workers” from being flagged during the employment authorization process due to grammatical errors. “With this law, we can correct bureaucratic errors that would otherwise be detrimental to their income and livelihoods.” Another sponsor, State Representative Eva-Dina Delgado (D-Chicago), proclaimed that in “too many other states, E-Verify is being abused. In Illinois, we are moving in the opposite direction.”
While Illinois enacted legislation that helps illegal aliens violate the law by taking jobs and driving down wages, FAIR will continue to advocate mandatory E-Verify laws at the federal, state and local levels because it is a simple tool that works. As we detailed in a FAIR issue brief, illegal immigration fell by as much as 50 percent in a single year in states with mandatory E-Verify laws. Moreover, E-Verify eliminates the main incentive for illegal aliens to come to the United States: work.
