E-Verify Expansion by Anti-Immigrant Republicans Jeopardizes Economic Recovery and Further Delays Progress on Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Washington, DC--Today the U.S. Senate passed an amendment by Senator Jeff Sessions to the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill to permanently mandate use of the E-Verify employment verification system for all employees of Federal contractors. SEIU, which scored the vote, has long opposed the expansion of a program that has repeatedly been proven to be flawed and costly by the Social Security Administration and the Congressional Budget Office. In response, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger released the following statement:

Relying on E-Verify as a tool for employee verification is like relying on an AIG executive to lead an economic recovery plan. Verifying workers based on a backlogged system full of discrepancies will lead to unfair firings of Americans workers and untold misery for many of our nation's hardest, most underpaid workers.

"On the heels of a successful meeting at the White House on comprehensive immigration reform, the Sessions amendment and Department of Homeland Security decision expanding E-Verify to all federal contracts are major steps backwards. This unwise, piecemeal approach to employee verification will lead to chaos not order, and further delay the critical steps Congress and the Obama Administration must take towards passing comprehensive immigration reform.

"The Social Security administration's own internal reports suggest that through E-Verify as many as 3.6 million workers a year will be misidentified as not authorized for employment. That means that millions of workers and their employers will be forced to run the Social Security Administration's bureaucratic gauntlet in order to keep their jobs. In most cases, employers aren't likely to wait out the red tape to re-verify a worker--employers will fire first and only the most well connected workers will be able to ask questions later. This will further jeopardize economic recovery by expanding job loss, undermining employer confidence and thrusting millions of hardworking, legal families into a web of uncertainty.

"America's workers want to see a comprehensive, workable immigration solution--not more of the same failed and costly enforcement-only policies we saw during the Bush Administration. We must stand up to the anti-immigrant forces and pass smart, comprehensive solutions that fix our immigration system for the long-term."

SEIU's Comprehensive Immigration Reform Principles:
A comprehensive solution would couple enforcement at the border and in the workplace with a path to earned legalization for all hard working immigrants. It will also replace guest worker programs with a system that guarantees immigrant workers full labor and civil rights protections, and a road to U.S. citizenship. Done together, these reforms will finally restore the rule of law and eliminate an informal labor market that drives down wages and labor protections for all U.S. workers. Read more about the Change to Win and AFL-CIO's Unified Immigration Reform Framework.

With 2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico, SEIU is the fastest-growing union in the Americas and the largest union of immigrants. Focused on uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers--not just corporations and CEOs--benefit from today's global economy.

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