Wayne County Today

State Representatives Scott Wiggam (R-Wayne County) and D.J. Swearingen’s (R-Huron) legislation to protect Ohio jobs from the employment of immigrant workers through an electronic verification process has passed the Ohio House on Wednesday.

Electronic verification, or E-Verify, is a free federal internet-based system operated by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services that confirms, within seconds, an employee’s information with the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records to confirm employment eligibility in the United States.

“Once implemented, the E-Verify program will help protect Ohio’s workforce against job loss and lower wages by making it harder for employers to exploit illegal immigrant workers in Ohio,” said Wiggam. “Illegal labor trafficking hurts Ohio’s workers.”

Ohio’s version of this legislation, House Bill 327, will require employers who employ 75 or more individuals, contractors engaged in nonresidential construction, and government employment to use the federal E-Verify program. It will also empower the State Attorney General to investigate and bring a civil complaint against a noncompliant employer.

“E-Verify acts as a deterrent for an illegal population. Research conducted on the effect of E-Verify found that illegal immigration in a state fell more than 50% when a state implemented a mandatory E-Verify law,” Joseph Edlow, a former attorney for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said. “This system is the single most important addition to the immigration toolkit by disincentivizing illegal immigration and removing the competitive disadvantage burdened by employers following the law in an economy with employers who willfully skirt it.”

The legislation will now head to the Ohio Senate for further consideration.