Rep. Calvert Offers Amendment to Make E-Verify Permanent

Congressman Ken Calvert (CA-42) offered an amendment to make the E-Verify employment verification program permanent during the FY2022 Homeland Security Appropriations bill. The amendment was defeated on a party-line vote of 23 – 33. In 1996, Rep. Calvert authored the legislation that created the original E-Verify pilot program operating in only five states at the time. Today, E-Verify is used by more than 978,000 American employers across all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories.

"The current crisis at our southern border highlights the need to enforce our immigration laws, which are designed to protect the American workforce and fairly admit guest workers," said Rep. Calvert. "Employers that hire unauthorized workers not only break our immigration laws but often underpay and exploit their employees. Making E-Verify permanent will ensure that employers always have the resources to certify the employment eligibility of their workers. My amendment would have taken an important step in fixing our broken immigration system and protecting American and guest workers alike. I'm disappointed House Democrats once again failed to take action in response to our border crisis and voted against American employers and workers."