1. E-Verify detail

An Idaho bill that would require employers to use E-Verify to check the legal status of employees may be reworked, in part to reflect input from the agricultural community.

Internet-based E-Verify compares information entered by an employer from an employee’s Form I-9 to records available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to confirm employment eligibility, according to HHS.

Idaho is among 12 states that require public employers to use E-Verify but is not among the 10 that require it for all or most businesses, according to Experian Employer Services.

House Bill 510 would prohibit employment of illegal immigrants and require employers starting Jan. 1 to use E-Verify to confirm legal employment eligibility.

Continued unauthorized immigration, and trying “to figure out what we can do as a state” prompted the legislation, said bill sponsor Rep. Jordan Redman, R-Coeur d’Alene. Though the state is far from the southern border, “the heart of it is to try to make it not necessarily a place where illegal immigration is welcome.”

The nonprofit NumbersUSA, which focuses on immigration reform and reducing total immigration, endorses the legislation and supports nationwide use of E-Verify, said Andrew Good, director of state government relations.

“You cannot say you’re against illegal immigration and also say you’re against E-Verify,” he said. The system can deactivate a “jobs magnet” while leveling the playing field among employers.

Lacking congressional passage of mandatory E-Verify usage, states can pass it, he said.

“States have done things that have kind of focused on immigration for the long term,” Good said. “It’s probably just an organic response because of the broader context of the border crisis.”

“We are opposed to House Bill 510 and any like legislation,” said Bob Naerebout, director of government affairs for the Idaho Dairymen’s Association. “These types of issues, along with immigration visa issues, reside with the federal government, not the state government.”

About 90% of the labor force in the state’s dairy industry is foreign-born, he said. The industry does not have access to a year-round guestworker visa program.

“Until the federal government is willing to address all the issues with border security — and along with that, developing a workable visa program for year-round businesses — states will continue to try to identify their own solutions,” Naerebout said.

Some other Idaho representatives, and advocates for agriculture, came to Redman with concerns after the House Commerce and Human Resources Committee on Feb. 8 voted to introduce the bill, he said.

He is holding off on running HB 510 and is working to find a solution, such as one that includes carve-outs and “does not affect the ag industry as much,” he said. In that case, a new bill would be drafted.

Some 41% of U.S. crop farmworkers lack worked authorization, according to USDA’s Economic Research Service. ERS cited the 2018-20 average used in the Department of Labor’s National Agricultural Workers Survey.