Sponsors (13)
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Requires nearly all employers to use the E‑Verify system to check workers’ right to work in the United States, strengthens identity-verification features and data sharing, creates a centralized employer compliance center, and raises penalties for noncompliance. It also adds rules for rechecking authorization, requires employers to terminate employment after a final nonconfirmation, protects good-faith users of E‑Verify from state interference, and sets deadlines for reports, demo programs, and an interagency information‑sharing system.
Not later than 9 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security must submit a report to Congress containing specified recommendations .
The report must contain recommendations for modifying and simplifying the process by which employers are required to complete and retain a Form I–9 for each employee pursuant to section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a) .
The report must contain recommendations for eliminating the process described in paragraph (1) (i.e., the process addressed in the recommendations to modify and simplify) .
Design E-Verify to maximize its reliability and ease of use by employers.
Design E-Verify to insulate and protect the privacy and security of the underlying information.
Who is affected and how:
Employers: Most employers will be required to enroll in and use E‑Verify for new hires and to verify previously unverified employees within a year. They face new administrative tasks (timely queries, rechecks, handling tentative nonconfirmations), higher penalties for failures to participate, and the risk of debarment from federal contracting for repeat violations. Employers must terminate employment after a final nonconfirmation or face a rebuttable presumption of violating immigration law.
Employees and job applicants (including noncitizens): Workers will be subject to more routine digital identity and work-authorization checks. Noncitizen workers and lawful workers with documentation issues may face delays, contest procedures, or job loss if final nonconfirmations occur. The law requires notice and an opportunity to contest tentative nonconfirmations, but final nonconfirmations carry immediate employment consequences.
Noncitizens / unauthorized workers: Increased identification, data sharing, and enforcement likely reduce employment opportunities for unauthorized workers and increase risk of immigration enforcement actions tied to employment data.
Federal agencies and contractors: Federal departments, agencies, and contractors must use E‑Verify and will coordinate more with DHS/USCIS/ICE; federal procurement officials gain debarment tools against repeat violators.
DHS, USCIS, ICE, SSA and other records-holding agencies: Must expand operations, data-sharing, auditing, and reporting; USCIS must create and run the Small Business Demonstration Program and send weekly final-nonconfirmation reports to ICE.
Small/rural businesses and no‑internet employers: Eligible for a demonstration program providing public terminals and assistance, but still face enrollment and compliance obligations.
Privacy and identity‑technology vendors: Increased demand for identity‑verification services, system integrations with government records, and higher operational standards and audit requirements.
States and local governments: The bill preempts restrictions on E‑Verify and prevents state/local laws from barring its use, reducing local control and raising potential preemption litigation.
Risks and burdens:
Amends Section 401(b) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104–208), which is codified at 8 U.S.C. 1324a, by striking the specified text of Section 401(b).
Amends 18 U.S.C. 1028 by (1) replacing the phrase "of another person" in subsection (a)(7) with "that is not his or her own"; and (2) modifying subsection (b)(3) to add a new subparagraph (D) that makes it unlawful, for the purpose specified in that subsection, to facilitate or assist in harboring or hiring unauthorized workers in violation of sections 274, 274A, or 274C of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324, 1324a, 1324c). Also makes punctuation adjustments to subparagraphs (B) and (C) to accommodate the new subparagraph (D).
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced March 26, 2025 by Charles Ernest Grassley · Last progress March 26, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate