E-Verify On Hold, Again

Incoming Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary, Janet Napolitano, today announced that federal contractors will not be required to use the E-Verify program – DHS’ electronic immigration compliance system  – until (at least) May 21, 2009.

As originally planned, all contracts entered into after January 15, 2009 were to include a clause requiring contract recipients to run certain employees’ employment eligibility information through the E-Verify system to screen for potential immigration violations.  See our previous post on this topic.

This is the second time the government has delayed E-Verify’s roll-out.  The Bush Administration postponed the rule until February 20, in part due to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  According to the Chamber, the lawsuit provided the new administration “an opportunity to re-evaluate the efficacy of the policy” in light of concerns about the government’s capacity to handle a significant uptick in E-Verify background requests (only 11% of U.S. employers currently use the system).  Apparently acting on this suggestion, the Obama administration has begun a full review of the policy. 

Despite the delay, the new administration seems almost certain to institute E-Verify.  Secretary Napolitano today officially endorsed the program as an “integral part of our immigration enforcement system” and all signs point to E-Verify’s eventual, if delayed, roll-out in May.

This article was authored by Samuel W. Jack, Jackson Kelly PLLC.