On September 8, 2009, regulations (73 FR 67704) requiring federal contractors to use the flawed E-Verify system, the federal government's employment verification program to determine an em-ployee’s legal work eligibility went into effect.
The new regulation represents a joint agreement between the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), it reinforces the federal gov-ernment’s policy to conduct business with organizations that employ a “legal workforce.”
The regulation was first published on June 13, 2008 by the Bush Administration to implement a June 6, 2008 Executive Order (No. 12989). Its enactment was postponed four times in response to a legal challenge and to give the Obama Administration time to review it; however, on July 8, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that after reviewing the federal contractor requirement and the E-Verify program generally, the regulation would go into effect on September 8, 2009.
NAA/NMHC have opposed mandatory E-Verify participation because of the program’s inaccuracies and inability to address identity theft and document fraud. The system relies on the same docu-ments that render the I-9 process vulnerable to fraud and error. We have also argued that em-ployment verification is just one component of comprehensive reform that is necessary to mod-ernize our federal immigration policy.
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