USCIS Data Shows that 3.2% of Employers Using E-Verify; H.R. 2164 Would Require 100%

A new report from the Migration Policy Institute found that only 3.2% of the nation’s employers are currently enrolled in E-Verify. House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith’s mandatory E-Verify bill, Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2164), would require 100% of employers to use E-Verify within two years.

Of the three states that have passed mandatory E-Verify laws and have been completely phased in — Arizona, South Carolina, and Mississippi — only 15% of the businesses in the three states were enrolled in E-Verify as of January 2011.

Arizona leads the nation with nearly 36,000 businesses using E-Verify, which equates to 25.7% of the state’s total employers. Missouri, which requires state agencies to use E-Verify and also suspends the business licenses of companies that are found to knowingly hire illegal aliens, ranks second in the nation with 14.5% of employers using E-Verify.

South Carolina has 6.8% of employers using E-Verify despite its statewide mandate, and Mississippi has 6.5% of employers using E-Verify despite its statewide mandate.

Missouri has 22,061 employers using E-Verify followed by California (20,800), Georgia (18,166), and Texas (13,419).

Chairman Smith’s E-Verify bill, H.R. 2164, would require all federal, state, and local agencies,federal and state contractors, and critical infrastructure employees to begin using E-Verify on both new hires and current employees within six months of enactment. Private businesses must begin using E-Verify within two years based on the size of their workforce, and recruitment and referring centers must begin using E-Verify with in one year.

The Legal Workforce Act allows states to continue using their authority over business licensing and similar laws to penalize companies that don’t use E-Verify.

The following list shows the percentage of employers in each state that were using E-Verify as of January 2011.For full information, see the Migration Policy Institute.

 Number of Businesses Enrolled in E-Verify by State, January 2011

State
Businesses enrolled in E-Verify
Number of establishments (2008)
Percent of establishments enrolled

United States
243,709
7,601,169
3.2%

Alabama
2328
103,875
2.2%

Alaska
427
19,934
2.1%

Arizona
35988
140,081
25.7%

Arkansas
1210
66,668
1.8%

California
20800
879,025
2.4%

Colorado
6775
156,684
4.3%

Connecticut
1661
92,597
1.8%

Delaware
510
25,174
2.0%

District of Columbia
1521
21,081
7.2%

Florida
11067
507,027
2.2%

Georgia
18166
227,593
8.0%

Hawaii
722
32,904
2.2%

Idaho
934
46,246
2.0%

Illinois
6061
321,942
1.9%

Indiana
2480
150,101
1.7%

Iowa
1450
82,353
1.8%

Kansas
2229
76,096
2.9%

Kentucky
1545
92,587
1.7%

Louisiana
1924
104,007
1.8%

Maine
427
41,755
1.0%

Maryland
4296
138,607
3.1%

Massachusetts
3708
174,290
2.1%

Michigan
3178
229,310
1.4%

Minnesota
3833
148,845
2.6%

Mississippi
3949
60,918
6.5%

Missouri
22061
152,440
14.5%

Montana
464
37,318
1.2%

Nebraska
2821
52,152
5.4%

Nevada
1817
28,302
6.4%

New Hampshire
619
38,906
1.6%

New Jersey
4856
238,440
2.0%

New Mexico
1139
46,200
2.5%

New York
6886
518,632
1.3%

North Carolina
5625
225,158
2.5%

North Dakota
335
21,558
1.6%

Ohio
3952
263,761
1.5%

Oklahoma
3254
91,382
3.6%

Oregon
2299
111,550
2.1%

Pennsylvania
4858
303,115
1.6%

Rhode Island
2819
29,759
9.5%

South Carolina
7247
106,678
6.8%

South Dakota
371
25,689
1.4%

Tennessee
3383
136,585
2.5%

Texas
13419
522,336
2.6%

Utah
4319
71,433
6.0%

Vermont
186
22,121
0.8%

Virginia
6706
197,716
3.4%

Washington
4073
182,207
2.2%

West Virginia
399
39,641
1.0%

Wisconsin
2268
144,081
1.6%

Wyoming
344
20,785
1.7%