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This week, Senator Rubio signed on as an original co-sponsor to Senator Charles Grassley’s Achieving Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act. This bill would permanently reauthorize the E-Verify electronic employment verification system and it would make the utilization of this system mandatory for all employers.

Specifically, the bill makes the usage of the E-Verify system mandatory for all employers within one year of the bill’s enactment with respect to all employees recruited, referred, or hired by such employer on or after the bill’s enactment. In regard to an employer’s current employees, firms will have three years to verify the lawful work status of all of their employees. The bill also increases penalties for employers who refuse to use the system as required by the law and it will prohibit any state or local government from prohibiting the use of the E-Verify system. It requires that employers terminate those found to be unauthorized to work while still providing for procedural safeguards to ensure the accuracy of the system. The information sharing provisions of this bill will establish a program to combat Social Security fraud by providing additional safeguards against multiple uses of the same Social Security Number. If enacted into law, this legislation would not further add to our debt, as it provides an offset to pay for any upgrades to the E-Verify system from unobligated funds found elsewhere in the federal government.

In commenting on this bill, Senator Rubio noted, “I know firsthand the great things that immigration has meant for America. Immigration is woven into the fabric of our nation and is a critical part of our future. But we can’t be the only nation in the world that does not enforce its immigration laws. Consistently, I have stated that a modernization of the legal immigration system is impossible unless we must first secure the border and implement an E-Verify system that will help prevent the hiring and exploitation of undocumented workers. That’s why I support Senator Charles Grassley’s bill to make E-Verify permanent.”