Government to Limit Planned Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants in Response to U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Groups

From The Washington Post:

The Department of Homeland Security has significantly narrowed the scope of a planned crackdown on federal contractor's employment of illegal immigrants.

The agency announced yesterday that it would go forward with a new policy requiring federal contractors to check the work documents of existing workers and subsequent hires using an electronic government system. The new policy will apply to contracts and solicitations issued after Jan. 15, but it will apply to far fewer contractors than would have been affected under the original proposal.

The Bush administration has made the work eligibility system, called E-Verify, a main pillar of its fight against illegal immigration, proposing to make its use mandatory for nearly 200,000 government contractors, covering about 4 million U.S. workers. Participation in E-Verify is now generally voluntary, although 13 state legislatures have enacted similar legislation for state contractors.

However, a revised final rule to be published today in the Federal Register would limit its application to contracts worth $100,000 or more, instead of $3,000, and require employers to check the eligibility only of workers on those contracts, instead of all their workers. The changes would apply to solicitations or awards made after Jan. 15, and exempt workers who have already received security clearances, contracts for commercial, off-the-shelf items, and contracts lasting less than 120 days.

Randel K. Johnson, vice president and spokesman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the administration "had been responsive to a substantial amount of business concerns," particularly by limiting the rule to large contractors, to new contracts and to workers on those contracts.
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See also The Washington Post.