I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2164 
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 
JUNE 14, 2011 
Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. 
CHAFFETZ, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. GARY G. MILLER of Cali-
fornia, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, 
Mr. CARTER, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, 
and Mr. GOODLATTE) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees 
on Education and the Workforce and Ways and Means, for a period to 
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation 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-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Legal Workforce Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. EMPLOYMENT ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION PROC-
ESS. 
Section 274A(b) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(b)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(b) 
EMPLOYMENT
ELIGIBILITY
VERIFICATION 
PROCESS.— 
‘‘(1) NEW HIRES, RECRUITMENT, AND REFER-
RAL.—The requirements referred to in paragraphs 
(1)(B) and (3) of subsection (a) are, in the case of 
a person or other entity hiring, recruiting, or refer-
ring an individual for employment in the United 
States, the following: 
‘‘(A) ATTESTATION
AFTER
EXAMINATION 
OF DOCUMENTATION.— 
‘‘(i) 
ATTESTATION.—During 
the 
verification period (as defined in subpara-
graph (F)), the person or entity shall at-
test, under penalty of perjury and on a 
form, including electronic and telephonic 
formats, designated or established by the 
Secretary by regulation not later than 6 
months after the date of the enactment of 
the Legal Workforce Act, that it has 
verified that the individual is not an unau-
thorized alien by— 
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‘‘(I) obtaining from the indi-
vidual the individual’s social security 
account number and recording the 
number on the form (if the individual 
claims to have been issued such a 
number), and, if the individual does 
not attest to United States citizenship 
under subparagraph (B), obtaining 
such identification or authorization 
number established by the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security for the 
alien as the Secretary of Homeland 
Security may specify, and recording 
such number on the form; and 
‘‘(II) examining— 
‘‘(aa) a document described 
in clause (ii); or 
‘‘(bb) a document described 
in clause (iii) and a document de-
scribed in clause (iv). 
‘‘(ii) DOCUMENTS
EVIDENCING
EM-
PLOYMENT
AUTHORIZATION
AND
ESTAB-
LISHING
IDENTITY.—A 
document 
de-
scribed in this subparagraph is an individ-
ual’s— 
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‘‘(I) unexpired United States 
passport or passport card; 
‘‘(II) unexpired permanent resi-
dent card that contains a photograph; 
‘‘(III) unexpired employment au-
thorization card that contains a pho-
tograph; 
‘‘(IV) in the case of a non-
immigrant alien authorized to work 
for a specific employer incident to sta-
tus, a foreign passport with Form I– 
94 or Form I–94A bearing the same 
name as the passport and containing 
as endorsement of the alien’s non-
immigrant status, as long as the pe-
riod of endorsement has not yet ex-
pired and the proposed employment is 
not in conflict with any restrictions or 
limitations identified on the form; 
‘‘(V) passport from the Fed-
erated States of Micronesia (FSM) or 
the Republic of the Marshall Islands 
(RMI) with Form I–94 or Form I– 
94A indicating nonimmigrant admis-
sion under the Compact of Free Asso-
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ciation Between the United Sates and 
the FSM or RMI; or 
‘‘(VI) other document designated 
by the Secretary of Homeland Secu-
rity, if the document— 
‘‘(aa) contains a photograph 
of the individual and biometric 
identification data from the indi-
vidual and such other personal 
identifying information relating 
to the individual as the Secretary 
of Homeland Security finds, by 
regulation, sufficient for purposes 
of this clause; 
‘‘(bb) is evidence of author-
ization of employment in the 
United States; and 
‘‘(cc) contains security fea-
tures to make it resistant to tam-
pering, counterfeiting, and fraud-
ulent use. 
‘‘(iii) DOCUMENTS
EVIDENCING
EM-
PLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION.—A document 
described in this subparagraph is an indi-
vidual’s social security account number 
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card (other than such a card which speci-
fies on the face that the issuance of the 
card does not authorize employment in the 
United States). 
‘‘(iv) 
DOCUMENTS
ESTABLISHING 
IDENTITY
OF
INDIVIDUAL.—A document 
described in this subparagraph is— 
‘‘(I) an individual’s unexpired 
State issued driver’s license or identi-
fication card if it contains a photo-
graph and information such as name, 
date of birth, gender, height, eye 
color, and address; 
‘‘(II) an individual’s unexpired 
U.S. military identification card; 
‘‘(III) an individual’s unexpired 
Native American tribal identification 
document; or 
‘‘(IV) in the case of an individual 
under 18 years of age, a parent or 
legal guardian’s attestation under 
penalty of law as to the identity and 
age of the individual. 
‘‘(v) AUTHORITY TO PROHIBIT USE OF 
CERTAIN DOCUMENTS.—If the Secretary of 
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Homeland Security finds, by regulation, 
that any document described in clause (i), 
(ii), or (iii) as establishing employment au-
thorization or identity does not reliably es-
tablish such authorization or identity or is 
being used fraudulently to an unacceptable 
degree, the Secretary may prohibit or place 
conditions on its use for purposes of this 
paragraph. 
‘‘(vi) SIGNATURE.—Such attestation 
may be manifested by either a hand-writ-
ten or electronic signature. 
‘‘(B) INDIVIDUAL
ATTESTATION
OF
EM-
PLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION.— 
‘‘(i) 
IN
GENERAL.—During 
the 
verification period (as defined in subpara-
graph (F)), the individual shall attest, 
under penalty of perjury on the form des-
ignated or established for purposes of sub-
paragraph (A), that the individual is a cit-
izen or national of the United States, an 
alien lawfully admitted for permanent resi-
dence, or an alien who is authorized under 
this Act or by the Secretary of Homeland 
Security to be hired, recruited, or referred 
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for such employment. Such attestation may 
be manifested by either a hand-written or 
electronic signature. The individual shall 
also provide that individual’s social secu-
rity account number (if the individual 
claims to have been issued such a number), 
and, if the individual does not attest to 
United States citizenship under this sub-
paragraph, such identification or author-
ization number established by the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security for the alien 
as the Secretary may specify. 
‘‘(ii) CRIMINAL PENALTY.— 
‘‘(I) OFFENSES.—Any individual 
who, pursuant to clause (i), provides a 
social security account number or an 
identification or authorization number 
established by the Secretary of Home-
land Security that belongs to another 
person, knowing that the number does 
not belong to the individual providing 
the number, shall be fined under title 
18, United States Code, imprisoned 
not less than 1 year and not more 
than 15 years, or both. Any individual 
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who, pursuant to clause (i), provides, 
during and in relation to any felony 
violation 
enumerated 
in 
section 
1028A(c) of title 18, United States 
Code, a social security account num-
ber or an identification or authoriza-
tion number established by the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security that be-
longs to another person, knowing that 
the number does not belong to the in-
dividual providing the number, in ad-
dition to the punishment provided for 
such felony, shall be fined under title 
18, United States Code, imprisoned 
for a term of 2 years, or both. 
‘‘(II) 
CONSECUTIVE
SEN-
TENCE.—Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law— 
‘‘(aa) a court shall not place 
on probation any individual con-
victed of a violation of this 
clause; 
‘‘(bb) except as provided in 
item (dd), no term of imprison-
ment imposed on an individual 
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under this section shall run con-
currently with any other term of 
imprisonment imposed on the in-
dividual under any other provi-
sion of law, including any term of 
imprisonment imposed for the 
felony enumerated in section 
1028A(c) of title 18, United 
States Code, during which the 
violation of this section occurred; 
‘‘(cc) in determining any 
term of imprisonment to be im-
posed for the felony enumerated 
in section 1028A(c) of title 18, 
United 
States 
Code, 
during 
which the violation of this clause 
occurred, a court shall not in any 
way reduce the term to be im-
posed for such crime so as to 
compensate for, or otherwise take 
into account, any separate term 
of imprisonment imposed or to be 
imposed for a violation of this 
clause; and 
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‘‘(dd) a term of imprison-
ment imposed on an individual 
for a violation of this clause may, 
in the discretion of the court, run 
concurrently, in whole or in part, 
only with another term of impris-
onment that is imposed by the 
court at the same time on that 
individual for an additional viola-
tion of this clause, except that 
such discretion shall be exercised 
in accordance with any applicable 
guidelines and policy statements 
issued by the United States Sen-
tencing Commission pursuant to 
section 994 of title 28, United 
States Code. 
‘‘(C) RETENTION OF VERIFICATION FORM 
AND VERIFICATION.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—After completion 
of such form in accordance with subpara-
graphs (A) and (B), the person or entity 
shall— 
‘‘(I) retain a paper, microfiche, 
microfilm, or electronic version of the 
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form and make it available for inspec-
tion by officers of the Department of 
Homeland Security, the Special Coun-
sel for Immigration-Related Unfair 
Employment Practices, or the Depart-
ment of Labor during a period begin-
ning on the date of the hiring, recruit-
ing, or referral of the individual and 
ending— 
‘‘(aa) in the case of the re-
cruiting or referral of an indi-
vidual, 3 years after the date of 
the recruiting or referral; and 
‘‘(bb) in the case of the hir-
ing of an individual, the later of 
3 years after the date of such 
hire or one year after the date 
the individual’s employment is 
terminated; and 
‘‘(II) during the verification pe-
riod (as defined in subparagraph (F)), 
make an inquiry, as provided in sub-
section (d), using the verification sys-
tem to seek verification of the identity 
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and employment eligibility of an indi-
vidual. 
‘‘(ii) VERIFICATION.— 
‘‘(I) VERIFICATION RECEIVED.— 
If the person or other entity receives 
an appropriate verification of an indi-
vidual’s identity and work eligibility 
under the verification system within 
the time period specified, the person 
or entity shall record on the form an 
appropriate code that is provided 
under the system and that indicates a 
final verification of such identity and 
work eligibility of the individual. 
‘‘(II) 
TENTATIVE 
NONVERIFICATION RECEIVED.—If the 
person or other entity receives a ten-
tative nonverification of an individ-
ual’s identity or work eligibility under 
the verification system within the time 
period specified, the person or entity 
shall so inform the individual for 
whom the verification is sought. If the 
individual 
does 
not 
contest 
the 
nonverification within the time period 
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specified, the nonverification shall be 
considered final. The person or entity 
shall then record on the form an ap-
propriate code which has been pro-
vided under the system to indicate a 
tentative nonverification. If the indi-
vidual does contest the nonverifica-
tion, the individual shall utilize the 
process for secondary verification pro-
vided under subsection (d). The 
nonverification will remain tentative 
until a final verification or nonverifi-
cation is provided by the verification 
system within the time period speci-
fied. In no case shall an employer ter-
minate employment of an individual 
because of a failure of the individual 
to have identity and work eligibility 
confirmed under this section until a 
nonverification becomes final. Nothing 
in this clause shall apply to a termi-
nation of employment for any reason 
other than because of such a failure. 
In no case shall an employer rescind 
the offer of employment to an indi-
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