ORLANDO, Fla. — Republican lawmakers are trying to pass a law that would require businesses to perform mandatory E-Verify checks to confirm a person’s right to work.
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Mandatory E-Verify was one of the campaign promises Gov. Ron DeSantis ran on. The federal web-based system allows enrolled employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S.
Here's what you should know about the measure, and what one economist is saying about it:
1. The House version of the bill would give exemptions to private businesses. The Senate version would allow private business owners to use an alternative to E-Verify.
2. FWD.us, a criminal justice and immigration bipartisan organization, released a study that shows the potential impact mandatory E-Verify could have on Florida. Dr. Rick Harper, an economist and University of West Florida professor, conducted the study. Dr. Harper analyzed the economic impact mandatory E-Verify had on the states that mandated it.
3. Results from the study show Central Florida would lose $3 billion in earnings, 72,997 jobs, and $366 million in local and state tax revenues.
4. Dr. Harper said there is a lack of workers with the low unemployment rate and the loss of immigrant workers would make the situation worse. He said it would impact three business sectors the most: agriculture, construction and hospitality and food industry.
He said the problem would increase as "Baby Boomers" retire and leave the workforce which would leave a larger workforce gap.
5. DeSantis said mandatory e-verify would help increase wages.
“Sometimes businesses bring in illegal labor from foreign countries that undercut American wages, and that’s not what we want," he said.
But Dr. Harper said the opposite happens. He said his research showed undocumented immigrants do not negatively impact the wages of "native Floridians."
