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Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act
4/10/2025, 12:39 PM
Summary of Bill S 1151
Additionally, the bill includes provisions to increase penalties for employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers and provides resources for small businesses to comply with the E-Verify requirements. The bill also includes measures to protect the privacy of workers and ensure that the E-Verify system is accurate and efficient.
Overall, the Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act is designed to strengthen enforcement of immigration laws and ensure that employers are held accountable for hiring unauthorized workers. It aims to promote legal employment and protect American workers from unfair competition.
Congressional Summary of S 1151
Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act
This bill expands the E-Verify program by requiring all employers to use it and permanently reauthorizes the program. Currently, E-Verify use is voluntary for most employers, although some states mandate its use.
All employers must use E-Verify to confirm the identity and employment eligibility of all recruited, referred, or hired individuals, including current employees who were never verified under the program. Failure to use E-Verify shall create a rebuttable presumption that the employer is violating immigration law.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services must generate weekly reports about individuals who have received a final nonconfirmation of employment eligibility. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must use the report to enforce immigration laws.
The bill increases civil and criminal penalties for hiring non-U.S. nationals (aliens under federal law) who are not authorized to work. DHS must bar repeat offenders and those criminally convicted from holding federal contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements.
The Social Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, and DHS must jointly establish a program to share information to help identify non-U.S. nationals who are not authorized to work.
The bill establishes the Employer Compliance Inspection Center within Homeland Security Investigations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The center's duties include processing I-9 employment eligibility verification forms and ensuring compliance with employment eligibility laws.
DHS must report to Congress on ways to simplify procedures relating to I-9 forms and on whether the I-9 process should be eliminated.
