DHS pushes for reauthorization of e-verification program

A top legislative priority for the Homeland Security Department this year is having Congress reauthorize a program that enables employers to electronically verify the legal status of newly hired workers, the department's policy chief said Friday.

Comment on this article in The Forum.Stewart Baker, Homeland Security's assistant secretary for policy, said he does not expect much homeland security legislation to come out of Congress this year.

But the department needs Congress to reauthorize its E-verify program, the free Internet-based service that employers can use to check Social Security numbers of employees and verify they are legally eligible to work in the country.

Baker said the promise that E-verify holds to ensure workers are legal was a primary selling point of the Bush administration's push for comprehensive immigration overhaul last year. Congress never passed a bill, however.

This year, only bills focused on limited immigration reforms or border enforcement have been proposed. Nearly 60,000 employers participate in E-verify on a voluntary basis, and some of the pending bills would make the program mandatory.

Baker said the department expects reauthorization language for E-verify to be attached to any of the smaller bills that might be approved. He said the department is not backing any specific immigration overhaul measure; it is letting Congress decide how to proceed. It is not clear if any bill will make it through this year, given that immigration is a hot-button election issue that Democrats and Republicans find hard to handle.

If "push comes to shove," Baker said, Homeland Security would ask appropriators to reauthorize E-verify through the department's fiscal 2009 budget.

Homeland Security announced Friday an increase in the length of time that foreign science and engineering students can remain in the country if they are working for an employer enrolled in E-verify.

Under a new interim final rule, visas for F-1 non-immigrant students with a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics will last for 29 months, up from 12 months. The rule also allows F-1 students to remain in the country if they are awaiting approval of an H-1B visa, which allows them to work in the high-tech sector.

"This rule will enable businesses to attract and retain highly skilled foreign workers, giving U.S. companies a competitive advantage in the world economy," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said. Baker said the department had been working on the rule for nearly two years. Public comment on it is open for 60 days.