08/14/2008 - The House has voted to extend E-Verify for an additional 5 years. Legislation is now pending in the Senate. E-Verify is the online system where participating employers can check the work status of new hires by comparing information from an employee's I-9 form against SSA and Department of Homeland Security databases. The program is due to expire this November under previous legislation.

E-Verify has been praised by some for helping to decrease illegal immigration by reducing the number of jobs available to undocumented people. Others criticize the program for inefficiency, proneness to error, and susceptibility to identity theft. Currently, E-Verify is optional for employers, but proponents want to make participation mandatory. Some critics instead hope to overhaul the program and address employment verification as part of a comprehensive immigration reform which would include a path to citizenship for "illegal workers".

Currently, there are more than 69,000 employers enrolled in the E-Verify and there have been more than 4 million queries run so far in 2008.

For more information:

http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/25/68/71.php

To see a copy of the bill passed by the House:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-6633