I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1951 

To establish a mandatory system for employers to verify the employment 

eligibility of potential employees, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 19, 2007 

Mr. ELLSWORTH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Education 

and Labor and Homeland Security, 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 establish a mandatory system for employers to verify 

the employment eligibility of potential employees, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Legal Employee 

5 Verification Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DOCUMENT AND VISA REQUIREMENTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 221(a) of the Immigra3 tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(a)) is amended 

4 by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(3) VISAS AND IMMIGRATION RELATED DOCUMENT

6 REQUIREMENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) Visas issued by the Secretary of State and 

8 immigration related documents issued by the Sec9 retary of State or the Secretary of Homeland Secu10 rity shall comply with authentication and biometric 

11 standards recognized by domestic and international 

12 standards organizations. 

13 ‘‘(B) Such visas and documents shall— 

14 ‘‘(i) be machine-readable and tamper-re15 sistant; 

16 ‘‘(ii) use biometric identifiers that are con17 sistent with the requirements of section 303 of 

18 the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry 

19 Reform Act of 2002 (8 U.S.C. 1732), and rep20 resent the benefits and status set forth in such 

21 section; 

22 ‘‘(iii) comply with the biometric and docu23 ment identifying standards established by the 

24 International Civil Aviation Organization; and 

25 ‘‘(iv) be compatible with the United States 

26 Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator TechVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:56 Apr 23, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951

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1 nology and the employment verification system 

2 established under section 274E. 

3 ‘‘(C) The information contained on the visas or 

4 immigration related documents described in subpara5 graph (B) shall include— 

6 ‘‘(i) the alien’s name, date and place of 

7 birth, alien registration or visa number, and, if 

8 applicable, social security number; 

9 ‘‘(ii) the alien’s citizenship and immigra10 tion status in the United States; and 

11 ‘‘(iii) the date that such alien’s authoriza12 tion to work in the United States expires, if ap13 propriate.’’. 

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

15 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date that is 6 

16 months after the date of enactment of this Act. 

17 SEC. 3. EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY CONFIRMATION SYS18 TEM. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 8 of title II of the Immi20 gration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1321 et seq.) is 

21 amended by inserting after section 274D the following: 

22 ‘‘EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY

23 ‘‘SEC. 274E. (a) EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY CON24 FIRMATION SYSTEM.— 

25 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner of So26 cial Security, in consultation and coordination with 


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1 the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish 

2 an Employment Eligibility Confirmation System (re3 ferred to in this section as the ‘System’) through 

4 which the Commissioner responds to inquiries made 

5 by employers who have hired individuals concerning 

6 each individual’s identity and employment authoriza7 tion. 

8 ‘‘(2) MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS.—The Com9 missioner shall electronically maintain records by 

10 which compliance under the System may be verified. 

11 ‘‘(3) OBJECTIVES OF THE SYSTEM.—The Sys12 tem shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) facilitate the eventual transition for 

14 all businesses from the employer verification 

15 system established in section 274A with the 

16 System; and 

17 ‘‘(B) utilize, as a central feature of the 

18 System, machine-readable documents that con19 tain encrypted electronic information to verify 

20 employment eligibility. 

21 ‘‘(4) INITIAL RESPONSE.—The System shall 

22 provide— 

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1 ployment eligibility not later than 1 working 

2 day after the initial inquiry; and 

3 ‘‘(B) an appropriate code indicating such 

4 confirmation or tentative nonconfirmation. 

5 ‘‘(5) SECONDARY VERIFICATION PROCESS IN

6 CASE OF TENTATIVE NONCONFIRMATION.— 

7 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—For cases of ten8 tative nonconfirmation, the Commissioner of 

9 Social Security, in consultation and coordina10 tion with the Secretary of Homeland Security, 

11 shall establish a secondary verification process. 

12 The employer shall make the secondary 

13 verification inquiry not later than 10 days after 

14 receiving a tentative nonconfirmation. 

15 ‘‘(B) DISCREPANCIES.—If an employee 

16 chooses to contest a secondary nonconfirmation, 

17 the employer shall provide the employee with a 

18 referral letter and instruct the employee to visit 

19 an office of the Department of Homeland Secu20 rity or the Social Security Administration to re21 solve the discrepancy not later than 10 working 

22 days after the receipt of such referral letter in 

23 order to obtain confirmation. 

24 ‘‘(C) FAILURE TO CONTEST.—An individ25 ual’s failure to contest a confirmation shall not 


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1 constitute knowledge (as defined in section 

2 274a.1(l) of title 8, Code of Federal Regula3 tions, as in effect on the date of the enactment 

4 of the Legal Employee Verification Act). 

5 ‘‘(6) DESIGN AND OPERATION OF SYSTEM.— 

6 The System shall be designed, implemented, and op7 erated— 

8 ‘‘(A) to maximize its reliability and ease of 

9 use consistent with protecting the privacy and 

10 security of the underlying information through 

11 technical and physical safeguards; 

12 ‘‘(B) to allow employers to verify that a 

13 newly hired individual is authorized to be em14 ployed; 

15 ‘‘(C) to permit individuals to— 

16 ‘‘(i) view their own records in order to 

17 ensure the accuracy of such records; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) contact the appropriate agency to 

19 correct any errors through an expedited 

20 process established by the Commissioner of 

21 Social Security, in consultation and coordi22 nation with the Secretary of Homeland Se23 curity; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) to prevent discrimination based on 

2 national origin or citizenship status under sec3 tion 274B. 

4 ‘‘(7) UNLAWFUL USES OF SYSTEM.—It shall be 

5 an unlawful immigration-related employment prac6 tice— 

7 ‘‘(A) for employers or other third parties 

8 to use the System selectively or without author9 ization; 

10 ‘‘(B) to use the System prior to an offer 

11 of employment; 

12 ‘‘(C) to use the System to exclude certain 

13 individuals from consideration for employment 

14 as a result of a perceived likelihood that addi15 tional verification will be required, beyond what 

16 is required for most job applicants; 

17 ‘‘(D) to use the System to deny certain 

18 employment benefits, otherwise interfere with 

19 the labor rights of employees, or any other un20 lawful employment practice; or 

21 ‘‘(E) to take adverse action against any 

22 person, including terminating or suspending an 

23 employee who has received a tentative noncon24 firmation. 

25 ‘‘(b) EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY DATABASE.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—The Commissioner of So2 cial Security, in consultation and coordination with 

3 the Secretary of Homeland Security and other ap4 propriate agencies, shall design, implement, and 

5 maintain an Employment Eligibility Database (re6 ferred to in this section as the ‘Database’) as de7 scribed in this subsection. 

8 ‘‘(2) DATA.—The Database shall include, for 

9 each individual who is not a citizen or national of 

10 the United States, but is authorized or seeking au11 thorization to be employed in the United States, the 

12 individual’s— 

13 ‘‘(A) country of origin; 

14 ‘‘(B) immigration status; 

15 ‘‘(C) employment eligibility; 

16 ‘‘(D) occupation; 

17 ‘‘(E) metropolitan statistical area of em18 ployment; 

19 ‘‘(F) annual compensation paid; 

20 ‘‘(G) period of employment eligibility; 

21 ‘‘(H) employment commencement date; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(I) employment termination date. 

24 ‘‘(3) REVERIFICATION OF EMPLOYMENT ELIGI25 BILITY.—The Commissioner of Social Security shall 


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1 prescribe, by regulation, a system to annually 

2 reverify the employment eligibility of each individual 

3 described in this section— 

4 ‘‘(A) by utilizing the machine-readable doc5 uments described in section 221(a)(3); or 

6 ‘‘(B) if machine-readable documents are 

7 not available, by telephonic or electronic com8 munication. 

9 ‘‘(4) CONFIDENTIALITY.— 

10 ‘‘(A) ACCESS TO DATABASE.—No officer or 

11 employee of any agency or department of the 

12 United States, other than individuals respon13 sible for the verification of employment eligi14 bility or for the evaluation of the employment 

15 verification program at the Social Security Ad16 ministration, the Department of Homeland Se17 curity, and the Department of Labor, may have 

18 access to any information contained in the 

19 Database. 

20 ‘‘(B) PROTECTION FROM UNAUTHORIZED

21 DISCLOSURE.—Information in the Database 

22 shall be adequately protected against unauthor23 ized disclosure for other purposes, as provided 

24 in regulations established by the Commissioner 

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1 retary of Homeland Security and the Secretary 

2 of Labor. 

3 ‘‘(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

5 as may be necessary to design, implement, and 

6 maintain the Database. 

7 ‘‘(c) GRADUAL IMPLEMENTATION.—The Commis8 sioner of Social Security, in coordination with the Sec9 retary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Labor 

10 shall develop a plan to phase all workers into the Database 

11 and phase out the employer verification system established 

12 in section 274A over a period of time that the Commis13 sioner determines to be appropriate. 

14 ‘‘(d) EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITIES.—Each employer 

15 shall— 

16 ‘‘(1) notify employees and prospective employ17 ees of the use of the System and that the System 

18 may be used for immigration enforcement purposes; 

19 ‘‘(2) use— 

20 ‘‘(A) a machine-readable document de21 scribed in subsection (a)(3)(B); or 

22 ‘‘(B) the telephonic or electronic system to 

23 access the Database; 


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1 ‘‘(3) provide, for each employee hired, the occu2 pation, metropolitan statistical area of employment, 

3 and annual compensation paid; 

4 ‘‘(4) retain the code received indicating con5 firmation or nonconfirmation, for use in investiga6 tions described in section 212(n)(2); and 

7 ‘‘(5) provide a copy of the employment 

8 verification receipt to such employees. 

9 ‘‘(e) GOOD-FAITH COMPLIANCE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE.—A person or en11 tity that establishes good faith compliance with the 

12 requirements of this section with respect to the em13 ployment of an individual in the United States has 

14 established an affirmative defense that the person or 

15 entity has not violated this section. 

16 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

17 apply if a person or entity engages in an unlawful 

18 immigration-related employment practice described 

19 in subsection (a)(7).’’. 

20 (b) INTERIM DIRECTIVE.—Before the implementa21 tion of the Employment Eligibility Confirmation System 

22 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘System’’) established 

23 under section 274E of the Immigration and Nationality 

24 Act, as added by subsection (a), the Commissioner of So25 cial Security, in coordination with the Secretary of HomeVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:56 Apr 23, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1951.IH H1951

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1 land Security, shall, to the maximum extent practicable, 

2 implement an interim system to confirm employment eligi3 bility that is consistent with the provisions of such section. 

4 (c) REPORTS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 3 months 

6 after the last day of the second year and of the third 

7 year that the System is in effect, the Comptroller 

8 General of the United States shall submit to the 

9 Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 

10 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep11 resentatives a report on the System. 

12 (2) CONTENTS.—Each report submitted under 

13 paragraph (1) shall include— 

14 (A) an assessment of the impact of the 

15 System on the employment of unauthorized 

16 workers; 

17 (B) an assessment of the accuracy of the 

18 Employment Eligibility Database maintained by 

19 the Department of Homeland Security and So20 cial Security Administration databases, and 

21 timeliness and accuracy of responses from the 

22 Department of Homeland Security and the So23 cial Security Administration to employers; 

24 (C) an assessment of the privacy, confiden25 tiality, and system security of the System; 


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1 (D) assess whether the System is being im2 plemented in a nondiscriminatory manner; and 

3 (E) include recommendations on whether 

4 or not the System should be modified. 

5 SEC. 4. IMPROVED ENTRY AND EXIT DATA SYSTEM. 

6 Section 110 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and 

7 Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1365a) 

8 is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘Attorney General’’ each place 

10 it appears and inserting ‘‘Secretary of Homeland Se11 curity’’; 

12 (2) in subsection (b)— 

13 (A) in paragraph (1)(C), by striking ‘‘Jus14 tice’’ and inserting ‘‘Homeland Security’’; 

15 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

16 the end; 

17 (C) in paragraph (5), by striking the pe18 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

19 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘(6) collects the biometric machine-readable in21 formation from an alien’s visa or immigration-re22 lated document described in section 221(a)(3) of the 

23 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

24 1201(a)(3)) at the time an alien arrives in the 

25 United States and at the time an alien departs from 


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1 the United States to determine if such alien is enter2 ing, or is present in, the United States unlawfully.’’; 

3 and 

4 (3) in subsection (f)(1), by striking ‘‘Depart5 ments of Justice and State’’ and inserting ‘‘Depart6 ment of Homeland Security and the Department of 

7 State’’. 

8 SEC. 5. PROTECTION OF EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS OF H2B 

9 WORKERS. 

10 The Secretary and the Secretary of Homeland Secu11 rity shall establish a process under which a nonimmigrant 

12 worker described in section 101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b) of the 

13 Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 

14 1101(a)(15)(H)(ii)(b)) who files a nonfrivolous complaint 

15 regarding a violation of this Act or the amendments made 

16 by this Act and is otherwise eligible to remain and work 

17 in the United States may be allowed to seek other appro18 priate employment in the United States with an employer 

19 for a period not to exceed the maximum period of stay 

20 authorized for that nonimmigrant classification. 

21 SEC. 6. INCREASED FINES FOR PROHIBITED BEHAVIOR. 

22 Section 274B(g)(2)(B)(iv) of the Immigration and 

23 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324b(g)(2)(B)(iv)) is amend24 ed— 


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1 (1) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘not less than 

2 $250 and not more than $2,000’’ and inserting ‘‘not 

3 less than $500 and not more than $3,000’’; 

4 (2) in subclause (II), by striking ‘‘not less than 

5 $2,000 and not more than $5,000’’ and inserting 

6 ‘‘not less than $4,000 and not more than $8,000’’; 

7 and 

8 (3) in subclause (III), by striking ‘‘not less than 

9 $3,000 and not more than $10,000’’ and inserting 

10 ‘‘not less than $6,000 and not more than $20,000’’. 

Æ 


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