LA County Supervisors Urge Immigration Status Check for Employees

August 25, 2009

Los Angeles - Los Angeles County supervisors, by a vote of 5-0, have decided to have county officials review the E-Verify system and make a recommendation on their study about its possible use.

The move to vote was proposed by Supervisor Mike Antonovich who believes that E-Verify will help ensure that companies have a legal workforce and avoid prosecution later on for hiring illegal employees.

The E-Verify is a free online federal program being launched by President Barack Obama’s administration as part of its efforts in immigration. The program uses federal databases to verify whether new hires or employees are in the country legally and eligible to work as well as audit the records of employers.

The government will begin to award contracts and jobs only to companies which use E-Verify on September 8, 2009. A few of the states have already made the use of the said program mandatory while in California, the use of E-Verify is merely voluntary.

The possibility of requiring contractors in California to participate in E-verify will be explored following the county officials’ review and recommendation on the use of the said program when the board meets in two weeks to discuss the issue.