Speech #1100101957

Madam Speaker. today I introduced a resolution calling on Governor Rod Blagojevich to stop the states upcoming prohibition on people from Illinois from using the federal governments EVerify web site to confirm immigration status for job applicants. The system is used in other states to quickly verify that new employees comply with U.S. law. Earlier this week. the Department of Justice. on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security. brought suit in federal court to strike down the Blagojevich prohibition. The EVerify system was created as part of the "Basic Pilot Program" authorized by Congress in 1996 to help employers easily check immigration status for job applicants. The program was offered to the entire country in 2001 by a unanimous vote of the House. Governor Blagojevich was a member of the House in 2001 during the time of that unanimous vote. The EVerify system provides employers access to a web site to check on the legal or illegal status of a job applicant. usually within one day. The system approves over 91 percent of such applications. If an applicant disagrees with an EVerify opinion. he can contest the "Tentative NonConfirmation" within one week at a Social Security or Department of Homeland Security office. Federal law prohibits an employer from taking action against an employee until this dispute is resolved. If an employee is officially "NonConfirmed". the employer can still offer a job after adjusting the immigration status of the applicant or notifying the Department of Homeland Security. Over 22.000 American employers use the EVerify system that has processed almost three million requests. More than 800 employers join this system each week. While the federal government offered Americans the right to check on the immigration status of job applicants using the EVerify system. this right will be denied to the people of Illinois by this new state law. Signed by the Governor in August. the Illinois law will deny all Illinois employers the right to use the federal EVerify system after January 1. The Illinois law only allows access to EVerify at some future date after state officials finds the system is 99 percent accurate. No other state denies the rights of its employers to use this federal program. Furthermore. the Illinois law clearly violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution and supporting the right of employers to verify the immigration status of prospective employees.