Iowa Senate passes bill requiring employer use of E-Verify

A bill requiring employers use the federal E-Verify system to vet workers’ immigration status passed the Iowa Senate Wednesday.

Senate File 108, which passed in a 30-17 vote, would prohibit Iowa employers from knowingly employing an “unauthorized alien employee,” and would allow complaints to be filed with Iowa Workforce Development against employers in violation of the law. If complaints are verified, IWD could take the employer to district court.

The bill also requires employers to use E-Verify for workers, a federal web-based system that checks a job applicant’s legal eligibility to work in the country using federal documentation.

Multiple employers and business groups spoke in opposition to the measure during a January subcommittee meeting on the proposal, saying they did not have an issue with the bill’s intent — vetting undocumented workers — but that the E-Verify system is not reliable. Dustin Miller, a lobbyist representing business groups including the Iowa Grocery Industry Association and Iowa Chamber Alliance, told lawmakers that E-Verify results in roughly 70,000 false positives each year.

Despite criticisms from some businesses, Sen. Julian Garrett, R-Indianola, the bill’s sponsor, said that more than 5,000 Iowa employers already use E-Verify voluntarily and have told him it’s easy and quick to use. He said the bill will not significantly burden Iowa businesses, but will help ensure that Iowa businesses and workers that are operating legally can compete with undocumented workers and their employers — who are often willing to work for lower wages, Garrett said.

Garrett criticized President Joe Biden and the current administration for not taking steps to address undocumented immigration along the U.S.-Mexico border. As people are “pouring across” the border right now, he said — many of whom are “really desperate for jobs,” the legislation is needed to help Iowa citizens and businesses.

“There are all kinds of people here in Iowa who obey the law, they’re not going to go out and and violate the law and so on,” Garrett said. “And this bill — those are the people this bill is going to help.”

Democratic Sens. Tony Bisignano and Nate Boulton offered amendments to the bill that would have restricted the E-Verify requirement to employers with more than 50 Iowa employees and add penalties for complaints against employers not made in good faith. Both amendments failed.

Another amendment, ruled out of order, proposed adding “unauthorized minors” to the legislation for investigation and verification by employers. Boulton said the measure was needed after recent incidents of Iowa companies employing minors in violation of federal child labor laws.

“We’ve seen abuses of this here in Iowa very recently, and we want to make sure our kids are safe and that our employers are doing all they can to ensure that minors are not working in occupations they should not,” Boulton said.

Sen. Janice Weiner, D-Iowa City, asked Republican lawmakers to heed the opposition from Iowa business organizations, listing many of the business and industry groups registered against the bill. The bill’s provision allowing for the permanent loss of an employer’s business license on second or subsequent offenses related to the knowing employment of undocumented immigrants was an “onerous penalty and criminalizes employers.”

She also said that the bill was not an effective means to address concerns about illegal immigration into the United States.

“If we’re really interested in the southern border, I suggest we all contact our federal senators and representatives — one of them was standing in the room here today,” Weiner said, referring to U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who visited the Iowa Senate Wednesday. “And ask them to pass the bipartisan law on immigration reform and the border that was agreed to in Washington. That’s the solution. It’s a federal issue.”

Garrett said immigration along the U.S. southern border was a motivating factor behind the E-Verify bill. Republicans in the state Senate have also passed a bill through the committee process this session that would make illegal immigration a state crime in Iowa.

“Folks, people are concerned about what’s going on around here at the border,” Garrett said. “That’s probably the number one issue, we hear about that all the time. … It doesn’t make us look good to just slough that off and ignore it. There’s not a lot we can do here in Iowa, at the state level, but this is something we can do. And I think it’ll make a difference.”

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