Americans Overwhelmingly Support E-Verify

Americans Overwhelmingly Support E-Verify

Washington, D.C. – A new Pulse Opinion Research poll again confirms that the American people from all political affiliations and races overwhelmingly support the use of E-Verify.  The poll found that 78% of likely voters favor mandating that all employers electronically verify the immigration status of their workers. Among those who expressed an opinion, 94% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, 81% of Democrats, and 88% of moderates of all parties favor requiring all U.S. employers to use E-Verify.  And 81% of Black Americans and 76% of other minorities, including Hispanic and Asian Americans, agreed.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) issued the statement below following the results of this poll. 

Chairman Smith:  “It’s no surprise that the American people across party lines overwhelmingly support the expansion of E-Verify.  This web-based program has a proven track record of identifying illegal immigrants in the workforce and protecting jobs for legal workers by checking the Social Security numbers of new hires.  E-Verify is free, quick, and easy to use.  It only takes about a minute to run a newly hired employee through E-Verify and persons eligible to work here are immediately confirmed 99.5% of the time.

“Twenty-three million Americans are currently unemployed or can’t find full-time work.  Meanwhile, seven million illegal workers hold jobs in the U.S.  We could open up millions of jobs for citizens and legal immigrants if we simply required all U.S. employers to use E-Verify. 

“Both Congress and the administration should listen to the American people and take steps to expand E-Verify.  The House Judiciary Committee last year approved a bipartisan bill to require all U.S. businesses to use E-Verify, the Legal Workforce Act.  It’s time to make this American dream a reality.  Congress should pass and the President should sign the Legal Workforce Act into law.”