The E-Verify Program
Overview of Electronic Employment Verification
Many years of debate about unauthorized immigration to the United States culminated in 1986 with the enactment of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). That year, there were an estimated 3.2 million unauthorized immigrants in the country. IRCA coupled legalization programs for certain segments of the unauthorized population with provisions to deter future unauthorized immigration by reducing the magnet of employment. These latter provisions reflected a belief, widely held then and now, that most unauthorized aliens enter and remain in the United States in order to work. To reduce the job magnet, IRCA amended the Immigration and Nationality Act…