On April 19, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Border Security and Enforcement Act (HR 2640), which includes the Legal Workforce Act (HR 319), proposed by U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) earlier this year.
According to a Calvert's website, the Legal Workforce Act ensures that American jobs are secured for legal workers and citizens by making it mandatory for U.S. employers to verify the work eligibility of all new hires through the E-Verify system.
“We must support American workers by verifying their employment eligibility,” Calvert said on his website. “Requiring the use of E-Verify is a commonsense step we must take to fix our broken immigration system. America is a nation of immigrants, and we want people to come to our nation through our legal immigration pathways. The passage of the Border Security and Enforcement Act is essential to gaining control of our borders and the enforcement of our immigration policies, which is critical to having a functional immigration system."
Calvert emphasized the significance of using E-Verify to support American workers by ensuring their employment eligibility.
In 1996, Calvert authored the law that established the E-Verify program, which is the only tool available to employers to verify the legal work status of newly hired employees. Before the implementation of E-Verify, there was no viable system to check the legal work status of new employees. He has worked tirelessly to expand the E-Verify system and make it mandatory.
The E-Verify program is operated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which cross-checks the social security numbers of new hires against Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records to verify their eligibility to work in the U.S. The program is free, accurate with a 99.8% success rate and takes less than two minutes to use. Over 1 million American employers currently use E-Verify, and 22 states require it for some or all employers, according to USCIS.
A lifelong Riverside County resident, Calvert represents the 41st Congressional District of Southern California. He has worked as an entrepreneur in the restaurant and real-estate fields for 17 years, according to his biography page. Besides serving as a congressman, Calvert has taken on leadership roles with several community volunteer groups, including the Corona Chamber of Commerce, the Corona Rotary and the Corona-Norco Family YMCA.