I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 251
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make mandatory and
permanent requirements relating to use of an electronic employment
eligibility verification system, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. C
ALVERT(for himself and Mr. MCCLINTOCK) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addi-
tion to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Education and Work-
force, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to make
mandatory and permanent requirements relating to use
of an electronic employment eligibility verification sys-
tem, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Legal Workforce Act’’. 4
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SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION PROC-1
ESS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 274A(b) of the Immigra-3
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(b)) is amended 4
to read as follows: 5
‘‘(b) E
MPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITYVERIFICATION 6
P
ROCESS.— 7
‘‘(1) N
EW HIRES, RECRUITMENT, AND REFER-8
RAL.—The requirements referred to in paragraphs 9
(1)(B) and (3) of subsection (a) are, in the case of 10
a person or other entity hiring, recruiting, or refer-11
ring an individual for employment in the United 12
States, the following: 13
‘‘(A) A
TTESTATION AFTER EXAMINATION 14
OF DOCUMENTATION .— 15
‘‘(i) A
TTESTATION.—During the 16
verification period (as defined in subpara-17
graph (E)), the person or entity shall at-18
test, under penalty of perjury and on a 19
form, including electronic and telephonic 20
formats, designated or established by the 21
Secretary by regulation not later than 6 22
months after the date of the enactment of 23
the Legal Workforce Act, that it has 24
verified that the individual is not an unau-25
thorized alien by— 26
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‘‘(I) obtaining from the indi-1
vidual the individual’s social security 2
account number or United States 3
passport number and recording the 4
number on the form (if the individual 5
claims to have been issued such a 6
number), and, if the individual does 7
not attest to United States nationality 8
under subparagraph (B), obtaining 9
such identification or authorization 10
number established by the Depart-11
ment of Homeland Security for the 12
alien as the Secretary of Homeland 13
Security may specify, and recording 14
such number on the form; and 15
‘‘(II) examining— 16
‘‘(aa) a document relating to 17
the individual presenting it de-18
scribed in clause (ii); or 19
‘‘(bb) a document relating to 20
the individual presenting it de-21
scribed in clause (iii) and a docu-22
ment relating to the individual 23
presenting it described in clause 24
(iv). 25
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‘‘(ii) DOCUMENTS EVIDENCING EM -1
PLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION AND ESTAB -2
LISHING IDENTITY .—A document de-3
scribed in this subparagraph is an individ-4
ual’s— 5
‘‘(I) unexpired United States 6
passport or passport card; 7
‘‘(II) unexpired permanent resi-8
dent card that contains a photograph; 9
‘‘(III) unexpired employment au-10
thorization card that contains a pho-11
tograph; 12
‘‘(IV) in the case of a non-13
immigrant alien authorized to work 14
for a specific employer incident to sta-15
tus, a foreign passport with Form I– 16
94 or Form I–94A, or other docu-17
mentation as designated by the Sec-18
retary specifying the alien’s non-19
immigrant status as long as the pe-20
riod of status has not yet expired and 21
the proposed employment is not in 22
conflict with any restrictions or limita-23
tions identified in the documentation; 24
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‘‘(V) passport from the Fed-1
erated States of Micronesia (FSM) or 2
the Republic of the Marshall Islands 3
(RMI) with Form I–94 or Form I– 4
94A, or other documentation as des-5
ignated by the Secretary, indicating 6
nonimmigrant admission under the 7
Compact of Free Association Between 8
the United States and the FSM or 9
RMI; or 10
‘‘(VI) other document designated 11
by the Secretary of Homeland Secu-12
rity, if the document— 13
‘‘(aa) contains a photograph 14
of the individual and biometric 15
identification data from the indi-16
vidual and such other personal 17
identifying information relating 18
to the individual as the Secretary 19
of Homeland Security finds, by 20
regulation, sufficient for purposes 21
of this clause; 22
‘‘(bb) is evidence of author-23
ization of employment in the 24
United States; and 25
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‘‘(cc) contains security fea-1
tures to make it resistant to tam-2
pering, counterfeiting, and fraud-3
ulent use. 4
‘‘(iii) D
OCUMENTS EVIDENCING EM -5
PLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION .—A document 6
described in this subparagraph is an indi-7
vidual’s social security account number 8
card (other than such a card which speci-9
fies on the face that the issuance of the 10
card does not authorize employment in the 11
United States). 12
‘‘(iv) D
OCUMENTS ESTABLISHING 13
IDENTITY OF INDIVIDUAL .—A document 14
described in this subparagraph is— 15
‘‘(I) an individual’s unexpired 16
State issued driver’s license or identi-17
fication card if it contains a photo-18
graph and information such as name, 19
date of birth, gender, height, eye 20
color, and address; 21
‘‘(II) an individual’s unexpired 22
U.S. military identification card; 23
‘‘(III) an individual’s unexpired 24
Native American tribal identification 25
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document issued by a tribal entity rec-1
ognized by the Bureau of Indian Af-2
fairs; or 3
‘‘(IV) in the case of an individual 4
under 18 years of age, a parent or 5
legal guardian’s attestation under 6
penalty of law as to the identity and 7
age of the individual. 8
‘‘(v) A
UTHORITY TO PROHIBIT USE OF 9
CERTAIN DOCUMENTS .—If the Secretary of 10
Homeland Security finds, by regulation, 11
that any document described in clause (i), 12
(ii), or (iii) as establishing employment au-13
thorization or identity does not reliably es-14
tablish such authorization or identity or is 15
being used fraudulently to an unacceptable 16
degree, the Secretary may prohibit or place 17
conditions on its use for purposes of this 18
paragraph. 19
‘‘(vi) S
IGNATURE.—Such attestation 20
may be manifested by either a handwritten 21
or electronic signature. 22
‘‘(B) I
NDIVIDUAL ATTESTATION OF EM -23
PLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION .—During the veri-24
fication period (as defined in subparagraph 25
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(E)), the individual shall attest, under penalty 1
of perjury on the form designated or established 2
for purposes of subparagraph (A), that the indi-3
vidual is a citizen or national of the United 4
States, an alien lawfully admitted for perma-5
nent residence, or an alien who is authorized 6
under this Act or by the Secretary of Homeland 7
Security to be hired, recruited, or referred for 8
such employment. Such attestation may be 9
manifested by either a handwritten or electronic 10
signature. The individual shall also provide that 11
individual’s social security account number or 12
United States passport number (if the indi-13
vidual claims to have been issued such a num-14
ber), and, if the individual does not attest to 15
United States nationality under this subpara-16
graph, such identification or authorization num-17
ber established by the Department of Homeland 18
Security for the alien as the Secretary may 19
specify. 20
‘‘(C) R
ETENTION OF VERIFICATION FORM 21
AND VERIFICATION.— 22
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—After completion 23
of such form in accordance with subpara-24
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graphs (A) and (B), the person or entity 1
shall— 2
‘‘(I) retain a paper, microfiche, 3
microfilm, or electronic version of the 4
form and make it available for inspec-5
tion by officers of the Department of 6
Homeland Security, the Department 7
of Justice, or the Department of 8
Labor during a period beginning on 9
the date of the recruiting or referral 10
of the individual, or, in the case of the 11
hiring of an individual, the date on 12
which the verification is completed, 13
and ending— 14
‘‘(aa) in the case of the re-15
cruiting or referral of an indi-16
vidual, 3 years after the date of 17
the recruiting or referral; and 18
‘‘(bb) in the case of the hir-19
ing of an individual, the later of 20
3 years after the date the verifi-21
cation is completed or one year 22
after the date the individual’s 23
employment is terminated; and 24
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‘‘(II) during the verification pe-1
riod (as defined in subparagraph (E)), 2
make an inquiry, as provided in sub-3
section (d), using the verification sys-4
tem to seek verification of the identity 5
and employment eligibility of an indi-6
vidual. 7
‘‘(ii) C
ONFIRMATION.— 8
‘‘(I) C
ONFIRMATION RE -9
CEIVED.—If the person or other entity 10
receives an appropriate confirmation 11
of an individual’s identity and work 12
eligibility under the verification sys-13
tem within the time period specified, 14
the person or entity shall record on 15
the form an appropriate code that is 16
provided under the system and that 17
indicates a final confirmation of such 18
identity and work eligibility of the in-19
dividual. 20
‘‘(II) T
ENTATIVE NONCONFIRMA -21
TION RECEIVED.—If the person or 22
other entity receives a tentative non-23
confirmation of an individual’s iden-24
tity or work eligibility under the 25
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verification system within the time pe-1
riod specified, the person or entity 2
shall so inform the individual for 3
whom the verification is sought. If the 4
individual does not contest the non-5
confirmation within the time period 6
specified, the nonconfirmation shall be 7
considered final. The person or entity 8
shall then record on the form an ap-9
propriate code which has been pro-10
vided under the system to indicate a 11
final nonconfirmation. If the indi-12
vidual does contest the nonconfirma-13
tion, the individual shall utilize the 14
process for secondary verification pro-15
vided under subsection (d). The non-16
confirmation will remain tentative 17
until a final confirmation or noncon-18
firmation is provided by the verifica-19
tion system within the time period 20
specified. In no case shall an employer 21
terminate employment of an individual 22
because of a failure of the individual 23
to have identity and work eligibility 24
confirmed under this section until a 25
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nonconfirmation becomes final. Noth-1
ing in this clause shall apply to a ter-2
mination of employment for any rea-3
son other than because of such a fail-4
ure. In no case shall an employer re-5
scind the offer of employment to an 6
individual because of a failure of the 7
individual to have identity and work 8
eligibility confirmed under this sub-9
section until a nonconfirmation be-10
comes final. Nothing in this subclause 11
shall apply to a recission of the offer 12
of employment for any reason other 13
than because of such a failure. 14
‘‘(III) F
INAL CONFIRMATION OR 15
NONCONFIRMATION RECEIVED .—If a 16
final confirmation or nonconfirmation 17
is provided by the verification system 18
regarding an individual, the person or 19
entity shall record on the form an ap-20
propriate code that is provided under 21
the system and that indicates a con-22
firmation or nonconfirmation of iden-23
tity and work eligibility of the indi-24
vidual. 25
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‘‘(IV) EXTENSION OF TIME .—If 1
the person or other entity in good 2
faith attempts to make an inquiry 3
during the time period specified and 4
the verification system has registered 5
that not all inquiries were received 6
during such time, the person or entity 7
may make an inquiry in the first sub-8
sequent working day in which the 9
verification system registers that it 10
has received all inquiries. If the 11
verification system cannot receive in-12
quiries at all times during a day, the 13
person or entity merely has to assert 14
that the entity attempted to make the 15
inquiry on that day for the previous 16
sentence to apply to such an inquiry, 17
and does not have to provide any ad-18
ditional proof concerning such inquiry. 19
‘‘(V) C
ONSEQUENCES OF NON -20
CONFIRMATION.— 21
‘‘(aa) T
ERMINATION OR NO-22
TIFICATION OF CONTINUED EM -23
PLOYMENT.—If the person or 24
other entity has received a final 25
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nonconfirmation regarding an in-1
dividual, the person or entity 2
may terminate employment of the 3
individual (or decline to recruit 4
or refer the individual). If the 5
person or entity does not termi-6
nate employment of the indi-7
vidual or proceeds to recruit or 8
refer the individual, the person or 9
entity shall notify the Secretary 10
of Homeland Security of such 11
fact through the verification sys-12
tem or in such other manner as 13
the Secretary may specify. 14
‘‘(bb) F
AILURE TO NO -15
TIFY.—If the person or entity 16
fails to provide notice with re-17
spect to an individual as required 18
under item (aa), the failure is 19
deemed to constitute a violation 20
of subsection (a)(1)(A) with re-21
spect to that individual. 22
‘‘(VI) C
ONTINUED EMPLOYMENT 23
AFTER FINAL NONCONFIRMATION .—If 24
the person or other entity continues to 25
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employ (or to recruit or refer) an indi-1
vidual after receiving final noncon-2
firmation, a rebuttable presumption is 3
created that the person or entity has 4
violated subsection (a)(1)(A). 5
‘‘(D) E
FFECTIVE DATES OF NEW PROCE -6
DURES.— 7
‘‘(i) H
IRING.—Except as provided in 8
clause (iii), the provisions of this para-9
graph shall apply to a person or other enti-10
ty hiring an individual for employment in 11
the United States as follows: 12
‘‘(I) With respect to employers 13
having 10,000 or more employees in 14
the United States on the date of the 15
enactment of the Legal Workforce 16
Act, on the date that is 6 months 17
after the date of the enactment of 18
such Act. 19
‘‘(II) With respect to employers 20
having 500 or more employees in the 21
United States, but less than 10,000 22
employees in the United States, on 23
the date of the enactment of the 24
Legal Workforce Act, on the date that 25
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is 12 months after the date of the en-1
actment of such Act. 2
‘‘(III) With respect to employers 3
having 20 or more employees in the 4
United States, but less than 500 em-5
ployees in the United States, on the 6
date of the enactment of the Legal 7
Workforce Act, on the date that is 18 8
months after the date of the enact-9
ment of such Act. 10
‘‘(IV) With respect to employers 11
having one or more employees in the 12
United States, but less than 20 em-13
ployees in the United States, on the 14
date of the enactment of the Legal 15
Workforce Act, on the date that is 24 16
months after the date of the enact-17
ment of such Act. 18
‘‘(ii) R
ECRUITING AND REFERRING .— 19
Except as provided in clause (iii), the pro-20
visions of this paragraph shall apply to a 21
person or other entity recruiting or refer-22
ring an individual for employment in the 23
United States on the date that is 12 24
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months after the date of the enactment of 1
the Legal Workforce Act. 2
‘‘(iii) A
GRICULTURAL LABOR OR SERV -3
ICES.—With respect to an employee per-4
forming agricultural labor or services, this 5
paragraph shall not apply with respect to 6
the verification of the employee until the 7
date that is 30 months after the date of 8
the enactment of the Legal Workforce Act. 9
For purposes of the preceding sentence, 10
the term ‘agricultural labor or services’ has 11
the meaning given such term by the Sec-12
retary of Agriculture in regulations and in-13
cludes agricultural labor as defined in sec-14
tion 3121(g) of the Internal Revenue Code 15
of 1986, agriculture as defined in section 16
3(f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 17
1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(f)), the handling, 18
planting, drying, packing, packaging, proc-19
essing, freezing, or grading prior to deliv-20
ery for storage of any agricultural or horti-21
cultural commodity in its unmanufactured 22
state, all activities required for the prepa-23
ration, processing or manufacturing of a 24
product of agriculture (as such term is de-25
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fined in such section 3(f)) for further dis-1
tribution, and activities similar to all the 2
foregoing as they relate to fish or shellfish 3
facilities. An employee described in this 4
clause shall not be counted for purposes of 5
clause (i). 6
‘‘(iv) E
XTENSIONS.—Upon request by 7
an employer having 50 or fewer employees, 8
the Secretary shall allow a one-time 6- 9
month extension of the effective date set 10
out in this subparagraph applicable to such 11
employer. Such request shall be made to 12
the Secretary and shall be made prior to 13
such effective date. 14
‘‘(v) T
RANSITION RULE.—Subject to 15
paragraph (4), the following shall apply to 16
a person or other entity hiring, recruiting, 17
or referring an individual for employment 18
in the United States until the effective 19
date or dates applicable under clauses (i) 20
through (iii): 21
‘‘(I) This subsection, as in effect 22
before the enactment of the Legal 23
Workforce Act. 24
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‘‘(II) Subtitle A of title IV of the 1
Illegal Immigration Reform and Im-2
migrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 3
U.S.C. 1324a note), as in effect be-4
fore the effective date in section 7(c) 5
of the Legal Workforce Act. 6
‘‘(III) Any other provision of 7
Federal law requiring the person or 8
entity to participate in the E–Verify 9
Program described in section 403(a) 10
of the Illegal Immigration Reform and 11
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 12
(8 U.S.C. 1324a note), as in effect be-13
fore the effective date in section 7(c) 14
of the Legal Workforce Act, including 15
Executive Order 13465 (8 U.S.C. 16
1324a note; relating to Government 17
procurement). 18
‘‘(E) V
ERIFICATION PERIOD DEFINED .— 19
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of 20
this paragraph: 21
‘‘(I) In the case of recruitment or 22
referral, the term ‘verification period’ 23
means the period ending on the date 24
recruiting or referring commences. 25
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‘‘(II) In the case of hiring, the 1
term ‘verification period’ means the 2
period beginning on the date on which 3
an offer of employment is extended 4
and ending on the date that is three 5
business days after the date of hire, 6
except as provided in clause (iii). The 7
offer of employment may be condi-8
tioned in accordance with clause (ii). 9
‘‘(ii) J
OB OFFER MAY BE CONDI -10
TIONAL.—A person or other entity may 11
offer a prospective employee an employ-12
ment position that is conditioned on final 13
verification of the identity and employment 14
eligibility of the employee using the proce-15
dures established under this paragraph. 16
‘‘(iii) S
PECIAL RULE.—Notwithstand-17
ing clause (i)(II), in the case of an alien 18
who is authorized for employment and who 19
provides evidence from the Social Security 20
Administration that the alien has applied 21
for a social security account number, the 22
verification period ends three business days 23
after the alien receives the social security 24
account number. 25
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‘‘(2) REVERIFICATION FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH 1
LIMITED WORK AUTHORIZATION .— 2
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 3
subparagraph (B), a person or entity shall 4
make an inquiry, as provided in subsection (d), 5
using the verification system to seek reverifica-6
tion of the identity and employment eligibility 7
of all individuals with a limited period of work 8
authorization employed by the person or entity 9
during the three business days after the date on 10
which the employee’s work authorization expires 11
as follows: 12
‘‘(i) With respect to employers having 13
10,000 or more employees in the United 14
States on the date of the enactment of the 15
Legal Workforce Act, beginning on the 16
date that is 6 months after the date of the 17
enactment of such Act. 18
‘‘(ii) With respect to employers having 19
500 or more employees in the United 20
States, but less than 10,000 employees in 21
the United States, on the date of the en-22
actment of the Legal Workforce Act, be-23
ginning on the date that is 12 months 24
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after the date of the enactment of such 1
Act. 2
‘‘(iii) With respect to employers hav-3
ing 20 or more employees in the United 4
States, but less than 500 employees in the 5
United States, on the date of the enact-6
ment of the Legal Workforce Act, begin-7
ning on the date that is 18 months after 8
the date of the enactment of such Act. 9
‘‘(iv) With respect to employers hav-10
ing one or more employees in the United 11
States, but less than 20 employees in the 12
United States, on the date of the enact-13
ment of the Legal Workforce Act, begin-14
ning on the date that is 24 months after 15
the date of the enactment of such Act. 16
‘‘(B) A
GRICULTURAL LABOR OR SERV -17
ICES.—With respect to an employee performing 18
agricultural labor or services, or an employee 19
recruited or referred by a farm labor contractor 20
(as defined in section 3 of the Migrant and Sea-21
sonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (29 22
U.S.C. 1801)), subparagraph (A) shall not 23
apply with respect to the reverification of the 24
employee until the date that is 30 months after 25
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the date of the enactment of the Legal Work-1
force Act. For purposes of the preceding sen-2
tence, the term ‘agricultural labor or services’ 3
has the meaning given such term by the Sec-4
retary of Agriculture in regulations and in-5
cludes agricultural labor as defined in section 6
3121(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 7
agriculture as defined in section 3(f) of the 8
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 9
203(f)), the handling, planting, drying, packing, 10
packaging, processing, freezing, or grading 11
prior to delivery for storage of any agricultural 12
or horticultural commodity in its unmanufac-13
tured state, all activities required for the prepa-14
ration, processing, or manufacturing of a prod-15
uct of agriculture (as such term is defined in 16
such section 3(f)) for further distribution, and 17
activities similar to all the foregoing as they re-18
late to fish or shellfish facilities. An employee 19
described in this subparagraph shall not be 20
counted for purposes of subparagraph (A). 21
‘‘(C) R
EVERIFICATION.—Paragraph 22
(1)(C)(ii) shall apply to reverifications pursuant 23
to this paragraph on the same basis as it ap-24
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plies to verifications pursuant to paragraph (1), 1
except that employers shall— 2
‘‘(i) use a form designated or estab-3
lished by the Secretary by regulation for 4
purposes of this paragraph; and 5
‘‘(ii) retain a paper, microfiche, micro-6
film, or electronic version of the form and 7
make it available for inspection by officers 8
of the Department of Homeland Security, 9
the Department of Justice, or the Depart-10
ment of Labor during the period beginning 11
on the date the reverification commences 12
and ending on the date that is the later of 13
3 years after the date of such reverification 14
or 1 year after the date the individual’s 15
employment is terminated. 16
‘‘(3) P
REVIOUSLY HIRED INDIVIDUALS .— 17
‘‘(A) O
N A MANDATORY BASIS FOR CER -18
TAIN EMPLOYEES.— 19
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than the 20
date that is 6 months after the date of the 21
enactment of the Legal Workforce Act, an 22
employer shall make an inquiry, as pro-23
vided in subsection (d), using the 24
verification system to seek verification of 25
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the identity and employment eligibility of 1
any individual described in clause (ii) em-2
ployed by the employer whose employment 3
eligibility has not been verified under the 4
E–Verify Program described in section 5
403(a) of the Illegal Immigration Reform 6
and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 7
(8 U.S.C. 1324a note). 8
‘‘(ii) I
NDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED .—An 9
individual described in this clause is any of 10
the following: 11
‘‘(I) An employee of any unit of 12
a Federal, State, or local government. 13
‘‘(II) An employee who requires a 14
Federal security clearance working in 15
a Federal, State, or local government 16
building, a military base, a nuclear 17
energy site, a weapons site, or an air-18
port or other facility that requires 19
workers to carry a Transportation 20
Worker Identification Credential 21
(TWIC). 22
‘‘(III) An employee assigned to 23
perform work in the United States 24
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under a Federal contract, except that 1
this subclause— 2
‘‘(aa) is not applicable to in-3
dividuals who have a clearance 4
under Homeland Security Presi-5
dential Directive 12 (HSPD 12 6
clearance), are administrative or 7
overhead personnel, or are work-8
ing solely on contracts that pro-9
vide Commercial Off The Shelf 10
goods or services as set forth by 11
the Federal Acquisition Regu-12
latory Council, unless they are 13
subject to verification under sub-14
clause (II); and 15
‘‘(bb) only applies to con-16
tracts over the simple acquisition 17
threshold as defined in section 18
2.101 of title 48, Code of Federal 19
Regulations. 20
‘‘(B) O
N A MANDATORY BASIS FOR MUL -21
TIPLE USERS OF SAME SOCIAL SECURITY AC -22
COUNT NUMBER .—In the case of an employer 23
who is required by this subsection to use the 24
verification system described in subsection (d), 25
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or has elected voluntarily to use such system, 1
the employer shall make inquiries to the system 2
in accordance with the following: 3
‘‘(i) The Commissioner of Social Secu-4
rity shall notify annually employees (at the 5
employee address listed on the Wage and 6
Tax Statement) who submit a social secu-7
rity account number to which more than 8
one employer reports income and for which 9
there is a pattern of unusual multiple use. 10
The notification letter shall identify the 11
number of employers to which income is 12
being reported as well as sufficient infor-13
mation notifying the employee of the proc-14
ess to contact the Social Security Adminis-15
tration Fraud Hotline if the employee be-16
lieves the employee’s identity may have 17
been stolen. The notice shall not share in-18
formation protected as private, in order to 19
avoid any recipient of the notice from 20
being in the position to further commit or 21
begin committing identity theft. 22
‘‘(ii) If the person to whom the social 23
security account number was issued by the 24
Social Security Administration has been 25
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identified and confirmed by the Commis-1
sioner, and indicates that the social secu-2
rity account number was used without 3
their knowledge, the Secretary and the 4
Commissioner shall lock the social security 5
account number for employment eligibility 6
verification purposes and shall notify the 7
employers of the individuals who wrong-8
fully submitted the social security account 9
number that the employee may not be 10
work eligible. 11
‘‘(iii) Each employer receiving such 12
notification of an incorrect social security 13
account number under clause (ii) shall use 14
the verification system described in sub-15
section (d) to check the work eligibility sta-16
tus of the applicable employee within 10 17
business days of receipt of the notification. 18
‘‘(C) O
N A VOLUNTARY BASIS.—Subject to 19
paragraph (2), and subparagraphs (A) through 20
(C) of this paragraph, beginning on the date 21
that is 30 days after the date of the enactment 22
of the Legal Workforce Act, an employer may 23
make an inquiry, as provided in subsection (d), 24
using the verification system to seek verification 25
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of the identity and employment eligibility of any 1
individual employed by the employer. If an em-2
ployer chooses voluntarily to seek verification of 3
any individual employed by the employer, the 4
employer shall seek verification of all individ-5
uals employed at the same geographic location 6
or, at the option of the employer, all individuals 7
employed within the same job category, as the 8
employee with respect to whom the employer 9
seeks voluntarily to use the verification system. 10
An employer’s decision about whether or not 11
voluntarily to seek verification of its current 12
workforce under this subparagraph may not be 13
considered by any government agency in any 14
proceeding, investigation, or review provided for 15
in this Act. 16
‘‘(D) V
ERIFICATION.—Paragraph 17
(1)(C)(ii) shall apply to verifications pursuant 18
to this paragraph on the same basis as it ap-19
plies to verifications pursuant to paragraph (1), 20
except that employers shall— 21
‘‘(i) use a form designated or estab-22
lished by the Secretary by regulation for 23
purposes of this paragraph; and 24
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‘‘(ii) retain a paper, microfiche, micro-1
film, or electronic version of the form and 2
make it available for inspection by officers 3
of the Department of Homeland Security, 4
the Department of Justice, or the Depart-5
ment of Labor during the period beginning 6
on the date the verification commences and 7
ending on the date that is the later of 3 8
years after the date of such verification or 9
1 year after the date the individual’s em-10
ployment is terminated. 11
‘‘(4) E
ARLY COMPLIANCE.— 12
‘‘(A) F
ORMER E–VERIFY REQUIRED USERS , 13
INCLUDING FEDERAL CONTRACTORS .—Notwith-14
standing the deadlines in paragraphs (1) and 15
(2), beginning on the date of the enactment of 16
the Legal Workforce Act, the Secretary is au-17
thorized to commence requiring employers re-18
quired to participate in the E–Verify Program 19
described in section 403(a) of the Illegal Immi-20
gration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility 21
Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note), including 22
employers required to participate in such pro-23
gram by reason of Federal acquisition laws 24
(and regulations promulgated under those laws, 25
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including the Federal Acquisition Regulation), 1
to commence compliance with the requirements 2
of this subsection (and any additional require-3
ments of such Federal acquisition laws and reg-4
ulation) in lieu of any requirement to partici-5
pate in the E–Verify Program. 6
‘‘(B) F
ORMER E–VERIFY VOLUNTARY 7
USERS AND OTHERS DESIRING EARLY COMPLI -8
ANCE.—Notwithstanding the deadlines in para-9
graphs (1) and (2), beginning on the date of 10
the enactment of the Legal Workforce Act, the 11
Secretary shall provide for the voluntary com-12
pliance with the requirements of this subsection 13
by employers voluntarily electing to participate 14
in the E–Verify Program described in section 15
403(a) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and 16
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 17
1324a note) before such date, as well as by 18
other employers seeking voluntary early compli-19
ance. 20
‘‘(5) C
OPYING OF DOCUMENTATION PER -21
MITTED.—Notwithstanding any other provision of 22
law, the person or entity may copy a document pre-23
sented by an individual pursuant to this subsection 24
and may retain the copy, but only (except as other-25
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wise permitted under law) for the purpose of com-1
plying with the requirements of this subsection. 2
‘‘(6) L
IMITATION ON USE OF FORMS .—A form 3
designated or established by the Secretary of Home-4
land Security under this subsection and any infor-5
mation contained in or appended to such form, may 6
not be used for purposes other than for enforcement 7
of this Act and any other provision of Federal crimi-8
nal law. 9
‘‘(7) G
OOD FAITH COMPLIANCE .— 10
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Except as otherwise 11
provided in this subsection, a person or entity 12
is considered to have complied with a require-13
ment of this subsection notwithstanding a tech-14
nical or procedural failure to meet such require-15
ment if there was a good faith attempt to com-16
ply with the requirement. 17
‘‘(B) E
XCEPTION IF FAILURE TO CORRECT 18
AFTER NOTICE.—Subparagraph (A) shall not 19
apply if— 20
‘‘(i) the failure is not de minimus; 21
‘‘(ii) the Secretary of Homeland Secu-22
rity has explained to the person or entity 23
the basis for the failure and why it is not 24
de minimus; 25
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‘‘(iii) the person or entity has been 1
provided a period of not less than 30 cal-2
endar days (beginning after the date of the 3
explanation) within which to correct the 4
failure; and 5
‘‘(iv) the person or entity has not cor-6
rected the failure voluntarily within such 7
period. 8
‘‘(C) E
XCEPTION FOR PATTERN OR PRAC -9
TICE VIOLATORS.—Subparagraph (A) shall not 10
apply to a person or entity that has or is engag-11
ing in a pattern or practice of violations of sub-12
section (a)(1)(A) or (a)(2). 13
‘‘(8) S
INGLE EXTENSION OF DEADLINES UPON 14
CERTIFICATION.—In a case in which the Secretary 15
of Homeland Security has certified to the Congress 16
that the employment eligibility verification system 17
required under subsection (d) will not be fully oper-18
ational by the date that is 6 months after the date 19
of the enactment of the Legal Workforce Act, each 20
deadline established under this section for an em-21
ployer to make an inquiry using such system shall 22
be extended by 6 months. No other extension of such 23
a deadline shall be made except as authorized under 24
paragraph (1)(D)(iv).’’. 25
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(b) DATE OFHIRE.—Section 274A(h) of the Immi-1
gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)) is 2
amended by adding at the end the following: 3
‘‘(4) D
EFINITION OF DATE OF HIRE .—As used 4
in this section, the term ‘date of hire’ means the 5
date of actual commencement of employment for 6
wages or other remuneration, unless otherwise speci-7
fied.’’. 8
SEC. 3. EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION SYSTEM. 9
Section 274A(d) of the Immigration and Nationality 10
Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(d)) is amended to read as follows: 11
‘‘(d) E
MPLOYMENTELIGIBILITYVERIFICATIONSYS-12
TEM.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Patterned on the employ-14
ment eligibility confirmation system established 15
under section 404 of the Illegal Immigration Reform 16
and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 17
1324a note), the Secretary of Homeland Security 18
shall establish and administer a verification system 19
through which the Secretary (or a designee of the 20
Secretary, which may be a nongovernmental enti-21
ty)— 22
‘‘(A) responds to inquiries made by per-23
sons at any time through a toll-free telephone 24
line and other toll-free electronic media con-25
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cerning an individual’s identity and whether the 1
individual is authorized to be employed; and 2
‘‘(B) maintains records of the inquiries 3
that were made, of verifications provided (or 4
not provided), and of the codes provided to in-5
quirers as evidence of their compliance with 6
their obligations under this section. 7
‘‘(2) I
NITIAL RESPONSE.—The verification sys-8
tem shall provide confirmation or a tentative non-9
confirmation of an individual’s identity and employ-10
ment eligibility within 3 working days of the initial 11
inquiry. If providing confirmation or tentative non-12
confirmation, the verification system shall provide an 13
appropriate code indicating such confirmation or 14
such nonconfirmation. 15
‘‘(3) S
ECONDARY CONFIRMATION PROCESS IN 16
CASE OF TENTATIVE NONCONFIRMATION .—In cases 17
of tentative nonconfirmation, the Secretary shall 18
specify, in consultation with the Commissioner of 19
Social Security, an available secondary verification 20
process to confirm the validity of information pro-21
vided and to provide a final confirmation or noncon-22
firmation not later than 10 working days after the 23
date on which the notice of the tentative noncon-24
firmation is received by the employee. The Secretary, 25
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in consultation with the Commissioner, may extend 1
this deadline once on a case-by-case basis for a pe-2
riod of 10 working days, and if the time is extended, 3
shall document such extension within the verification 4
system. The Secretary, in consultation with the 5
Commissioner, shall notify the employee and em-6
ployer of such extension. The Secretary, in consulta-7
tion with the Commissioner, shall create a standard 8
process of such extension and notification and shall 9
make a description of such process available to the 10
public. When final confirmation or nonconfirmation 11
is provided, the verification system shall provide an 12
appropriate code indicating such confirmation or 13
nonconfirmation. 14
‘‘(4) D
ESIGN AND OPERATION OF SYSTEM .— 15
The verification system shall be designed and oper-16
ated— 17
‘‘(A) to maximize its reliability and ease of 18
use by persons and other entities consistent 19
with insulating and protecting the privacy and 20
security of the underlying information; 21
‘‘(B) to respond to all inquiries made by 22
such persons and entities on whether individ-23
uals are authorized to be employed and to reg-24
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ister all times when such inquiries are not re-1
ceived; 2
‘‘(C) with appropriate administrative, tech-3
nical, and physical safeguards to prevent unau-4
thorized disclosure of personal information; 5
‘‘(D) to have reasonable safeguards against 6
the system’s resulting in unlawful discrimina-7
tory practices based on national origin or citi-8
zenship status, including— 9
‘‘(i) the selective or unauthorized use 10
of the system to verify eligibility; or 11
‘‘(ii) the exclusion of certain individ-12
uals from consideration for employment as 13
a result of a perceived likelihood that addi-14
tional verification will be required, beyond 15
what is required for most job applicants; 16
‘‘(E) to maximize the prevention of iden-17
tity theft use in the system; and 18
‘‘(F) to limit the subjects of verification to 19
the following individuals: 20
‘‘(i) Individuals hired, referred, or re-21
cruited, in accordance with paragraph (1) 22
or (4) of subsection (b). 23
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‘‘(ii) Employees and prospective em-1
ployees, in accordance with paragraph (1), 2
(2), (3), or (4) of subsection (b). 3
‘‘(iii) Individuals seeking to confirm 4
their own employment eligibility on a vol-5
untary basis. 6
‘‘(5) R
ESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMISSIONER OF 7
SOCIAL SECURITY.—As part of the verification sys-8
tem, the Commissioner of Social Security, in con-9
sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security 10
(and any designee of the Secretary selected to estab-11
lish and administer the verification system), shall es-12
tablish a reliable, secure method, which, within the 13
time periods specified under paragraphs (2) and (3), 14
compares the name and social security account num-15
ber provided in an inquiry against such information 16
maintained by the Commissioner in order to validate 17
(or not validate) the information provided regarding 18
an individual whose identity and employment eligi-19
bility must be confirmed, the correspondence of the 20
name and number, and whether the individual has 21
presented a social security account number that is 22
not valid for employment. The Commissioner shall 23
not disclose or release social security information 24
(other than such confirmation or nonconfirmation) 25
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under the verification system except as provided for 1
in this section or section 205(c)(2)(I) of the Social 2
Security Act. 3
‘‘(6) R
ESPONSIBILITIES OF SECRETARY OF 4
HOMELAND SECURITY .—As part of the verification 5
system, the Secretary of Homeland Security (in con-6
sultation with any designee of the Secretary selected 7
to establish and administer the verification system), 8
shall establish a reliable, secure method, which, with-9
in the time periods specified under paragraphs (2) 10
and (3), compares the name and alien identification 11
or authorization number (or any other information 12
as determined relevant by the Secretary) which are 13
provided in an inquiry against such information 14
maintained or accessed by the Secretary in order to 15
validate (or not validate) the information provided, 16
the correspondence of the name and number, wheth-17
er the alien is authorized to be employed in the 18
United States, or to the extent that the Secretary 19
determines to be feasible and appropriate, whether 20
the records available to the Secretary verify the 21
identity or status of a national of the United States. 22
‘‘(7) U
PDATING INFORMATION .—The Commis-23
sioner of Social Security and the Secretary of Home-24
land Security shall update their information in a 25
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manner that promotes the maximum accuracy and 1
shall provide a process for the prompt correction of 2
erroneous information, including instances in which 3
it is brought to their attention in the secondary 4
verification process described in paragraph (3). 5
‘‘(8) L
IMITATION ON USE OF THE 6
VERIFICATION SYSTEM AND ANY RELATED SYS -7
TEMS.— 8
‘‘(A) N
O NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION 9
CARD.—Nothing in this section shall be con-10
strued to authorize, directly or indirectly, the 11
issuance or use of national identification cards 12
or the establishment of a national identification 13
card. 14
‘‘(B) C
RITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE .—The 15
Secretary may authorize or direct any person or 16
entity responsible for granting access to, pro-17
tecting, securing, operating, administering, or 18
regulating part of the critical infrastructure (as 19
defined in section 1016(e) of the Critical Infra-20
structure Protection Act of 2001 (42 U.S.C. 21
5195c(e))) to use the verification system to the 22
extent the Secretary determines that such use 23
will assist in the protection of the critical infra-24
structure. 25
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‘‘(9) REMEDIES.—If an individual alleges that 1
the individual would not have been dismissed from 2
a job but for an error of the verification mechanism, 3
or would have been hired for a job but for an error 4
of the verification mechanism, the individual may 5
seek compensation only through the mechanism of 6
the Federal Tort Claims Act, and injunctive relief to 7
correct such error. No class action may be brought 8
under this paragraph.’’. 9
SEC. 4. RECRUITMENT, REFERRAL, AND CONTINUATION OF 10
EMPLOYMENT. 11
(a) A
DDITIONALCHANGES TORULES FORRECRUIT-12
MENT, REFERRAL, ANDCONTINUATION OF EMPLOY-13
MENT.—Section 274A(a) of the Immigration and Nation-14
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(a)) is amended— 15
(1) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘for a fee’’; 16
(2) in paragraph (1), by amending subpara-17
graph (B) to read as follows: 18
‘‘(B) to hire, continue to employ, or to re-19
cruit or refer for employment in the United 20
States an individual without complying with the 21
requirements of subsection (b).’’; and 22
(3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘after hiring 23
an alien for employment in accordance with para-24
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graph (1),’’ and inserting ‘‘after complying with 1
paragraph (1),’’. 2
(b) D
EFINITION.—Section 274A(h) of the Immigra-3
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)), as amended 4
by section 2(b) of this Act, is further amended by adding 5
at the end the following: 6
‘‘(5) D
EFINITION OF RECRUIT OR REFER .—As 7
used in this section, the term ‘refer’ means the act 8
of sending or directing a person who is in the United 9
States or transmitting documentation or information 10
to another, directly or indirectly, with the intent of 11
obtaining employment in the United States for such 12
person. Only persons or entities referring for remu-13
neration (whether on a retainer or contingency 14
basis) are included in the definition, except that 15
union hiring halls that refer union members or non-16
union individuals who pay union membership dues 17
are included in the definition whether or not they re-18
ceive remuneration, as are labor service entities or 19
labor service agencies, whether public, private, for- 20
profit, or nonprofit, that refer, dispatch, or other-21
wise facilitate the hiring of laborers for any period 22
of time by a third party. As used in this section, the 23
term ‘recruit’ means the act of soliciting a person 24
who is in the United States, directly or indirectly, 25
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and referring the person to another with the intent 1
of obtaining employment for that person. Only per-2
sons or entities referring for remuneration (whether 3
on a retainer or contingency basis) are included in 4
the definition, except that union hiring halls that 5
refer union members or nonunion individuals who 6
pay union membership dues are included in this defi-7
nition whether or not they receive remuneration, as 8
are labor service entities or labor service agencies, 9
whether public, private, for-profit, or nonprofit that 10
recruit, dispatch, or otherwise facilitate the hiring of 11
laborers for any period of time by a third party.’’. 12
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 13
this section shall take effect on the date that is 1 year 14
after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 15
the amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect 16
6 months after the date of the enactment of this Act inso-17
far as such amendments relate to continuation of employ-18
ment. 19
SEC. 5. GOOD FAITH DEFENSE. 20
Section 274A(a)(3) of the Immigration and Nation-21
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(a)(3)) is amended to read as 22
follows: 23
‘‘(3) G
OOD FAITH DEFENSE.— 24
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‘‘(A) DEFENSE.—An employer (or person 1
or entity that hires, employs, recruits, or refers 2
(as defined in subsection (h)(5)), or is otherwise 3
obligated to comply with this section) who es-4
tablishes that it has complied in good faith with 5
the requirements of subsection (b)— 6
‘‘(i) shall not be liable to a job appli-7
cant, an employee, the Federal Govern-8
ment, or a State or local government, 9
under Federal, State, or local criminal or 10
civil law for any employment-related action 11
taken with respect to a job applicant or 12
employee in good-faith reliance on informa-13
tion provided through the system estab-14
lished under subsection (d); and 15
‘‘(ii) has established compliance with 16
its obligations under subparagraphs (A) 17
and (B) of paragraph (1) and subsection 18
(b) absent a showing by the Secretary of 19
Homeland Security, by clear and con-20
vincing evidence, that the employer had 21
knowledge that an employee is an unau-22
thorized alien. 23
‘‘(B) M
ITIGATION ELEMENT .—For pur-24
poses of subparagraph (A)(i), if an employer 25
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proves by a preponderance of the evidence that 1
the employer uses a reasonable, secure, and es-2
tablished technology to authenticate the identity 3
of the new employee, that fact shall be taken 4
into account for purposes of determining good 5
faith use of the system established under sub-6
section (d). 7
‘‘(C) F
AILURE TO SEEK AND OBTAIN 8
VERIFICATION.—Subject to the effective dates 9
and other deadlines applicable under subsection 10
(b), in the case of a person or entity in the 11
United States that hires, or continues to em-12
ploy, an individual, or recruits or refers an indi-13
vidual for employment, the following require-14
ments apply: 15
‘‘(i) F
AILURE TO SEEK 16
VERIFICATION.— 17
‘‘(I) I
N GENERAL.—If the person 18
or entity has not made an inquiry, 19
under the mechanism established 20
under subsection (d) and in accord-21
ance with the timeframes established 22
under subsection (b), seeking 23
verification of the identity and work 24
eligibility of the individual, the de-25
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fense under subparagraph (A) shall 1
not be considered to apply with re-2
spect to any employment, except as 3
provided in subclause (II). 4
‘‘(II) S
PECIAL RULE FOR FAIL -5
URE OF VERIFICATION MECHANISM .— 6
If such a person or entity in good 7
faith attempts to make an inquiry in 8
order to qualify for the defense under 9
subparagraph (A) and the verification 10
mechanism has registered that not all 11
inquiries were responded to during the 12
relevant time, the person or entity can 13
make an inquiry until the end of the 14
first subsequent working day in which 15
the verification mechanism registers 16
no nonresponses and qualify for such 17
defense. 18
‘‘(ii) F
AILURE TO OBTAIN 19
VERIFICATION.—If the person or entity 20
has made the inquiry described in clause 21
(i)(I) but has not received an appropriate 22
verification of such identity and work eligi-23
bility under such mechanism within the 24
time period specified under subsection 25
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(d)(2) after the time the verification in-1
quiry was received, the defense under sub-2
paragraph (A) shall not be considered to 3
apply with respect to any employment after 4
the end of such time period.’’. 5
SEC. 6. PREEMPTION AND STATES’ RIGHTS. 6
Section 274A(h)(2) of the Immigration and Nation-7
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(h)(2)) is amended to read as 8
follows: 9
‘‘(2) P
REEMPTION.— 10
‘‘(A) S
INGLE, NATIONAL POLICY .—The 11
provisions of this section preempt any State or 12
local law, ordinance, policy, or rule, including 13
any criminal or civil fine or penalty structure, 14
insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to 15
the hiring, continued employment, or status 16
verification for employment eligibility purposes, 17
of unauthorized aliens. 18
‘‘(B) S
TATE ENFORCEMENT OF FEDERAL 19
LAW.— 20
‘‘(i) B
USINESS LICENSING.—A State, 21
locality, municipality, or political subdivi-22
sion may exercise its authority over busi-23
ness licensing and similar laws as a pen-24
alty for failure to use the verification sys-25
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tem described in subsection (d) to verify 1
employment eligibility when and as re-2
quired under subsection (b). 3
‘‘(ii) G
ENERAL RULES.—A State, at 4
its own cost, may enforce the provisions of 5
this section, but only insofar as such State 6
follows the Federal regulations imple-7
menting this section, applies the Federal 8
penalty structure set out in this section, 9
and complies with all Federal rules and 10
guidance concerning implementation of this 11
section. Such State may collect any fines 12
assessed under this section. An employer 13
may not be subject to enforcement, includ-14
ing audit and investigation, by both a Fed-15
eral agency and a State for the same viola-16
tion under this section. Whichever entity, 17
the Federal agency or the State, is first to 18
initiate the enforcement action, has the 19
right of first refusal to proceed with the 20
enforcement action. The Secretary must 21
provide copies of all guidance, training, 22
and field instructions provided to Federal 23
officials implementing the provisions of 24
this section to each State.’’. 25
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SEC. 7. REPEAL. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subtitle A of title IV of the Illegal 2
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 3
1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note) is repealed. 4
(b) R
EFERENCES.—Any reference in any Federal 5
law, Executive order, rule, regulation, or delegation of au-6
thority, or any document of, or pertaining to, the Depart-7
ment of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, or the 8
Social Security Administration, to the employment eligi-9
bility confirmation system established under section 404 10
of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Respon-11
sibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note) is deemed to 12
refer to the employment eligibility confirmation system es-13
tablished under section 274A(d) of the Immigration and 14
Nationality Act, as amended by section 3 of this Act. 15
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—This section shall take effect 16
on the date that is 30 months after the date of the enact-17
ment of this Act. 18
(d) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections, 19
in section 1(d) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Im-20
migrant Responsibility Act of 1996, is amended by strik-21
ing the items relating to subtitle A of title IV. 22
SEC. 8. PENALTIES. 23
Section 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act 24
(8 U.S.C. 1324a) is amended— 25
(1) in subsection (e)(1)— 26
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(A) by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ each 1
place such term appears and inserting ‘‘Sec-2
retary of Homeland Security’’; and 3
(B) in subparagraph (D), by striking 4
‘‘Service’’ and inserting ‘‘Department of Home-5
land Security’’; 6
(2) in subsection (e)(4)— 7
(A) in subparagraph (A), in the matter be-8
fore clause (i), by inserting ‘‘, subject to para-9
graph (10),’’ after ‘‘in an amount’’; 10
(B) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 11
‘‘not less than $250 and not more than 12
$2,000’’ and inserting ‘‘not less than $2,500 13
and not more than $5,000’’; 14
(C) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking 15
‘‘not less than $2,000 and not more than 16
$5,000’’ and inserting ‘‘not less than $5,000 17
and not more than $10,000’’; 18
(D) in subparagraph (A)(iii), by striking 19
‘‘not less than $3,000 and not more than 20
$10,000’’ and inserting ‘‘not less than $10,000 21
and not more than $25,000’’; and 22
(E) by moving the margin of the continu-23
ation text following subparagraph (B) two ems 24
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to the left and by amending subparagraph (B) 1
to read as follows: 2
‘‘(B) may require the person or entity to 3
take such other remedial action as is appro-4
priate.’’; 5
(3) in subsection (e)(5)— 6
(A) in the paragraph heading, strike ‘‘
PA-7
PERWORK’’; 8
(B) by inserting ‘‘, subject to paragraphs 9
(10) through (12),’’ after ‘‘in an amount’’; 10
(C) by striking ‘‘$100’’ and inserting 11
‘‘$1,000’’; 12
(D) by striking ‘‘$1,000’’ and inserting 13
‘‘$25,000’’; and 14
(E) by adding at the end the following: 15
‘‘Failure by a person or entity to utilize the em-16
ployment eligibility verification system as re-17
quired by law, or providing information to the 18
system that the person or entity knows or rea-19
sonably believes to be false, shall be treated as 20
a violation of subsection (a)(1)(A).’’; 21
(4) by adding at the end of subsection (e) the 22
following: 23
‘‘(10) E
XEMPTION FROM PENALTY FOR GOOD 24
FAITH VIOLATION.—In the case of imposition of a 25
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civil penalty under paragraph (4)(A) with respect to 1
a violation of subsection (a)(1)(A) or (a)(2) for hir-2
ing or continuation of employment or recruitment or 3
referral by person or entity and in the case of impo-4
sition of a civil penalty under paragraph (5) for a 5
violation of subsection (a)(1)(B) for hiring or re-6
cruitment or referral by a person or entity, the pen-7
alty otherwise imposed may be waived or reduced if 8
the violator establishes that the violator acted in 9
good faith. 10
‘‘(11) M
ITIGATION ELEMENT.—For purposes of 11
paragraph (4), the size of the business shall be 12
taken into account when assessing the level of civil 13
money penalty. 14
‘‘(12) A
UTHORITY TO DEBAR EMPLOYERS FOR 15
CERTAIN VIOLATIONS.— 16
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—If a person or entity 17
is determined by the Secretary of Homeland Se-18
curity to be a repeat violator of paragraph 19
(1)(A) or (2) of subsection (a), or is convicted 20
of a crime under this section, such person or 21
entity may be considered for debarment from 22
the receipt of Federal contracts, grants, or co-23
operative agreements in accordance with the de-24
barment standards and pursuant to the debar-25
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ment procedures set forth in the Federal Acqui-1
sition Regulation. 2
‘‘(B) D
OES NOT HAVE CONTRACT , GRANT, 3
AGREEMENT.—If the Secretary of Homeland 4
Security or the Attorney General wishes to have 5
a person or entity considered for debarment in 6
accordance with this paragraph, and such a 7
person or entity does not hold a Federal con-8
tract, grant, or cooperative agreement, the Sec-9
retary or Attorney General shall refer the mat-10
ter to the Administrator of General Services to 11
determine whether to list the person or entity 12
on the List of Parties Excluded from Federal 13
Procurement, and if so, for what duration and 14
under what scope. 15
‘‘(C) H
AS CONTRACT, GRANT, AGREE-16
MENT.—If the Secretary of Homeland Security 17
or the Attorney General wishes to have a per-18
son or entity considered for debarment in ac-19
cordance with this paragraph, and such person 20
or entity holds a Federal contract, grant, or co-21
operative agreement, the Secretary or Attorney 22
General shall advise all agencies or departments 23
holding a contract, grant, or cooperative agree-24
ment with the person or entity of the Govern-25
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ment’s interest in having the person or entity 1
considered for debarment, and after soliciting 2
and considering the views of all such agencies 3
and departments, the Secretary or Attorney 4
General may refer the matter to any appro-5
priate lead agency to determine whether to list 6
the person or entity on the List of Parties Ex-7
cluded from Federal Procurement, and if so, for 8
what duration and under what scope. 9
‘‘(D) R
EVIEW.—Any decision to debar a 10
person or entity in accordance with this para-11
graph shall be reviewable pursuant to part 9.4 12
of the Federal Acquisition Regulation. 13
‘‘(13) O
FFICE FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERN -14
MENT COMPLAINTS .—The Secretary of Homeland 15
Security shall establish an office— 16
‘‘(A) to which State and local government 17
agencies may submit information indicating po-18
tential violations of subsection (a), (b), or 19
(g)(1) that were generated in the normal course 20
of law enforcement or the normal course of 21
other official activities in the State or locality; 22
‘‘(B) that is required to indicate to the 23
complaining State or local agency within five 24
business days of the filing of such a complaint 25
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by identifying whether the Secretary will fur-1
ther investigate the information provided; 2
‘‘(C) that is required to investigate those 3
complaints filed by State or local government 4
agencies that, on their face, have a substantial 5
probability of validity; 6
‘‘(D) that is required to notify the com-7
plaining State or local agency of the results of 8
any such investigation conducted; and 9
‘‘(E) that is required to report to the Con-10
gress annually the number of complaints re-11
ceived under this paragraph, the States and lo-12
calities that filed such complaints, and the reso-13
lution of the complaints investigated by the Sec-14
retary.’’; and 15
(5) by amending paragraph (1) of subsection (f) 16
to read as follows: 17
‘‘(1) C
RIMINAL PENALTY.—Any person or enti-18
ty which engages in a pattern or practice of viola-19
tions of subsection (a) (1) or (2) shall be fined not 20
more than $5,000 for each unauthorized alien with 21
respect to which such a violation occurs, imprisoned 22
for not more than 18 months, or both, notwith-23
standing the provisions of any other Federal law re-24
lating to fine levels.’’. 25
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SEC. 9. FRAUD AND MISUSE OF DOCUMENTS. 1
Section 1546(b) of title 18, United States Code, is 2
amended— 3
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘identification 4
document,’’ and inserting ‘‘identification document 5
or document meant to establish work authorization 6
(including the documents described in section 7
274A(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act),’’; 8
and 9
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘identification 10
document’’ and inserting ‘‘identification document or 11
document meant to establish work authorization (in-12
cluding the documents described in section 274A(b) 13
of the Immigration and Nationality Act),’’. 14
SEC. 10. PROTECTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRA-15
TION PROGRAMS. 16
(a) F
UNDINGUNDERAGREEMENT.—Effective for 17
fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2025, the 18
Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of 19
Homeland Security shall enter into and maintain an 20
agreement which shall— 21
(1) provide funds to the Commissioner for the 22
full costs of the responsibilities of the Commissioner 23
under section 274A(d) of the Immigration and Na-24
tionality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(d)), as amended by 25
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section 3 of this Act, including (but not limited 1
to)— 2
(A) acquiring, installing, and maintaining 3
technological equipment and systems necessary 4
for the fulfillment of the responsibilities of the 5
Commissioner under such section 274A(d), but 6
only that portion of such costs that are attrib-7
utable exclusively to such responsibilities; and 8
(B) responding to individuals who contest 9
a tentative nonconfirmation provided by the em-10
ployment eligibility verification system estab-11
lished under such section; 12
(2) provide such funds annually in advance of 13
the applicable quarter based on estimating method-14
ology agreed to by the Commissioner and the Sec-15
retary (except in such instances where the delayed 16
enactment of an annual appropriation may preclude 17
such quarterly payments); and 18
(3) require an annual accounting and reconcili-19
ation of the actual costs incurred and the funds pro-20
vided under the agreement, which shall be reviewed 21
by the Inspectors General of the Social Security Ad-22
ministration and the Department of Homeland Secu-23
rity. 24
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(b) CONTINUATION OFEMPLOYMENTVERIFICATION 1
INABSENCE OFTIMELYAGREEMENT.—In any case in 2
which the agreement required under subsection (a) for any 3
fiscal year beginning on or after October 1, 2025, has not 4
been reached as of October 1 of such fiscal year, the latest 5
agreement between the Commissioner and the Secretary 6
of Homeland Security providing for funding to cover the 7
costs of the responsibilities of the Commissioner under 8
section 274A(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act 9
(8 U.S.C. 1324a(d)) shall be deemed in effect on an in-10
terim basis for such fiscal year until such time as an 11
agreement required under subsection (a) is subsequently 12
reached, except that the terms of such interim agreement 13
shall be modified by the Director of the Office of Manage-14
ment and Budget to adjust for inflation and any increase 15
or decrease in the volume of requests under the employ-16
ment eligibility verification system. In any case in which 17
an interim agreement applies for any fiscal year under this 18
subsection, the Commissioner and the Secretary shall, not 19
later than October 1 of such fiscal year, notify the Com-20
mittee on Ways and Means, the Committee on the Judici-21
ary, and the Committee on Appropriations of the House 22
of Representatives and the Committee on Finance, the 23
Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Ap-24
propriations of the Senate of the failure to reach the 25
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agreement required under subsection (a) for such fiscal 1
year. Until such time as the agreement required under 2
subsection (a) has been reached for such fiscal year, the 3
Commissioner and the Secretary shall, not later than the 4
end of each 90-day period after October 1 of such fiscal 5
year, notify such Committees of the status of negotiations 6
between the Commissioner and the Secretary in order to 7
reach such an agreement. 8
SEC. 11. FRAUD PREVENTION. 9
(a) B
LOCKINGMISUSEDSOCIALSECURITYACCOUNT 10
N
UMBERS.—The Secretary of Homeland Security, in con-11
sultation with the Commissioner of Social Security, shall 12
establish a program in which social security account num-13
bers that have been identified to be subject to unusual 14
multiple use in the employment eligibility verification sys-15
tem established under section 274A(d) of the Immigration 16
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(d)), as amended by 17
section 3 of this Act, or that are otherwise suspected or 18
determined to have been compromised by identity fraud 19
or other misuse, shall be blocked from use for such system 20
purposes unless the individual using such number is able 21
to establish, through secure and fair additional security 22
procedures, that the individual is the legitimate holder of 23
the number. 24
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(b) ALLOWINGSUSPENSION OFUSE OFCERTAINSO-1
CIALSECURITYACCOUNTNUMBERS.—The Secretary of 2
Homeland Security, in consultation with the Commis-3
sioner of Social Security, shall establish a program which 4
shall provide a reliable, secure method by which victims 5
of identity fraud and other individuals may suspend or 6
limit the use of their social security account number or 7
other identifying information for purposes of the employ-8
ment eligibility verification system established under sec-9
tion 274A(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 10
U.S.C. 1324a(d)), as amended by section 3 of this Act. 11
The Secretary may implement the program on a limited 12
pilot program basis before making it fully available to all 13
individuals. 14
(c) A
LLOWINGPARENTSTOPREVENTTHEFT OF 15
T
HEIRCHILD’SIDENTITY.—The Secretary of Homeland 16
Security, in consultation with the Commissioner of Social 17
Security, shall establish a program which shall provide a 18
reliable, secure method by which parents or legal guard-19
ians may suspend or limit the use of the social security 20
account number or other identifying information of a 21
minor under their care for the purposes of the employment 22
eligibility verification system established under 274A(d) of 23
the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(d)), 24
as amended by section 3 of this Act. The Secretary may 25
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implement the program on a limited pilot program basis 1
before making it fully available to all individuals. 2
SEC. 12. USE OF EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION 3
PHOTO TOOL. 4
An employer who uses the photo matching tool used 5
as part of the E–Verify System shall match the photo tool 6
photograph to both the photograph on the identity or em-7
ployment eligibility document provided by the employee 8
and to the face of the employee submitting the document 9
for employment verification purposes. 10
SEC. 13. IDENTITY AUTHENTICATION EMPLOYMENT ELIGI-11
BILITY VERIFICATION PILOT PROGRAMS. 12
Not later than 24 months after the date of the enact-13
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, 14
after consultation with the Commissioner of Social Secu-15
rity and the Director of the National Institute of Stand-16
ards and Technology, shall establish by regulation not less 17
than 2 Identity Authentication Employment Eligibility 18
Verification pilot programs, each using a separate and dis-19
tinct technology (the ‘‘Authentication Pilots’’). The pur-20
pose of the Authentication Pilots shall be to provide for 21
identity authentication and employment eligibility 22
verification with respect to enrolled new employees which 23
shall be available to any employer that elects to participate 24
in either of the Authentication Pilots. Any participating 25
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employer may cancel the employer’s participation in the 1
Authentication Pilot after one year after electing to par-2
ticipate without prejudice to future participation. The Sec-3
retary shall report to the Committee on the Judiciary of 4
the House of Representatives and the Committee on the 5
Judiciary of the Senate the Secretary’s findings on the 6
Authentication Pilots, including the authentication tech-7
nologies chosen, not later than 12 months after com-8
mencement of the Authentication Pilots. 9
SEC. 14. INSPECTOR GENERAL AUDITS. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 11
date of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General 12
of the Social Security Administration shall complete audits 13
of the following categories in order to uncover evidence 14
of individuals who are not authorized to work in the 15
United States: 16
(1) Workers who dispute wages reported on 17
their social security account number when they be-18
lieve someone else has used such number and name 19
to report wages. 20
(2) Children’s social security account numbers 21
used for work purposes. 22
(3) Employers whose workers present signifi-23
cant numbers of mismatched social security account 24
numbers or names for wage reporting. 25
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(b) SUBMISSION.—The Inspector General of the So-1
cial Security Administration shall submit the audits com-2
pleted under subsection (a) to the Committee on Ways and 3
Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee 4
on Finance of the Senate for review of the evidence of 5
individuals who are not authorized to work in the United 6
States. The Chairmen of those Committees shall then de-7
termine information to be shared with the Secretary of 8
Homeland Security so that such Secretary can investigate 9
the unauthorized employment demonstrated by such evi-10
dence. 11
Æ
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