DeSantis pushes Florida further on E-Verify, but not all the way

Gov. Ron DeSantis campaigned on a promise to prevent employers from hiring immigrants who were in the country illegally. He wanted employers to use E-Verify, a federal government online system, to verify the eligibility of prospective employees.

But after resistance from business leaders, DeSantis signed a more limited measure into law, affecting far fewer employers.

Legislators had tried to mandate the use of E-Verify for some employers for years. It took until the 2020 session for the Florida Legislature to enact SB 664, which requires public employers, as well as their contractors and subcontractors, to use E-Verify. These same employers must terminate a contract if they believe the employee is in the country illegally. Employers had until Jan. 1, 2021, to comply. 

"Given the high unemployment rate due to COVID-19, it is more important than ever to ensure that the state's legal residents benefit from the jobs that become available as Florida continues to reopen in a safe and smart manner," said DeSantis' then-spokesperson Helen Aguirre Ferré in an email to the News Service of Florida shortly after DeSantis signed the bill.. 

The most recent report of E-Verify's accuracy was completed 10 years ago by Westat, according to a state analysis of the legislation. That 2012 review found E-Verify's analysis to be 94% correct — 6% of the people deemed unauthorized to work in the United States were actually authorized to do so. The bill's legislative analysis cited a Department of Homeland Security customer service report, published in 2018 but using experiences from 2017, that put E-Verify's overall satisfaction rating from employers at 85 out of 100. A 2020 survey puts the score even higher at 87 out of 100.

Florida is not the only state to require public employers to use E-Verify. At least 19 other states require the immigration system, according to the Senate bill analysis, and some require it for both private and public employers, including North Carolina, Georgia and Arizona. 

Prominent business advocacy groups in Florida, like the Florida Chamber of Commerce, have opposed the use of E-Verify in certain capacities. In 2018, the chamber came out against a proposal to add into the state's constitution a measure that would require Florida to adopt legislation mandating E-Verify. In the statement, the chamber said the measure would "place significant costs on business for little gain," among other reasons.

Past studies offered mixed reviews on E-Verify's success. A 2017 analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas showed that some states, like Arizona and Mississippi, had a drop in the population of unauthorized immigrants after E-Verify while others, like Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, saw little to no impact. 

Some experts say the problem is the way it's used and not the E-Verify system itself. Steven Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports reduced levels of immigration, has noted the inherent limitations in the way some states implement E-Verify.

"They have few if any penalties for noncompliance with these state E-Verify laws, and they only apply to new hires, not existing employees," he told PolitiFact in a 2019 interview. 

Data shows that still many employers do not use the system. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had enrolled more than 820,000 employers in E-Verify — only about 13.5% of all U.S. employers, according to data cited by the libertarian Cato Institute. Data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security showed that there were about 81,711 employers enrolled in E-Verify in Florida, as of Dec. 31, 2021. 

Ultimately, industry leaders say it's an element of a patchwork of solutions.

"E-Verify can be a part of an overall enforcement regime," said Theresa Cardinal Brown, an immigration expert at the Bipartisan Policy Center, in 2019. "But by itself and without other immigration changes, it is not a solution."

DeSantis' campaign promise was not specific about his exact goals for E-Verify. At the time, his website read: "Enact E-Verify to ensure a legal workforce and higher wages for Floridians." Based on the successful 2020 legislation that now requires public employers and their contractors to use E-Verify in Florida but does not do the same for private employers, we rate this promise a Compromise.