The Costs of Mandating E-Verify

State-by-State E-Verify Fact Sheets

SOURCE: AP/Marcio Jose Sanchez

Shawn Coburn, a California farmer, said the mandatory E-Verify plan, which would require all American businesses to confirm their employees are legally entitled to work in the United States, would be disastrous and "would throw the California economy for a loop."

July 21, 2011

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E-Verify is the federal government’s voluntary Internet-based system that allows employers to verify the work authorization of their employees. Currently only 4 percent of all businesses in the United States use E-Verify but some members of Congress are pushing to make this costly and error-plagued system mandatory for every employer in the country. These proposals would cripple small businesses, impose a “right to work” tax on millions of workers, and cost hundreds of thousands of U.S. workers their jobs.

The following fact sheets from the Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy Center detail the fiscal and economic costs that a mandatory E-Verify system would have on individual states, and explain how many jobs would be lost in each state if the system was required for use.

Michigan

Massachusetts

Louisiana

North Carolina

Pennsylvania

Ohio

Minnesota

California

New York

Virginia

For more on the costs of mandating E-Verify, see:

• Seen and (Mostly) Unseen: The True Costs of E-Verify by Philip Wolgin
• Infographic: The Costs of E-Verify by Philip Wolgin
• Ask the Expert: Philip Wolgin on E-Verify