Washington, D.C. (August 6, 2025) – ICE recently arrested 76 illegal-alien workers at a Nebraska meatpacking plant for working without authorization. They had been incorrectly cleared by E-Verify, the electronic employment-eligibility verification system created by Congress in 1996, showing its vulnerability to identity theft.
A new report by the Center for Immigration Studies,
E-Verify and the Invasion of the Identity Snatchers, provides historical context and policy analysis to explain how identity theft undermines the effectiveness of the E-Verify system – and what Congress can do to fix it.
“E-Verify was not designed to catch identity theft, and that gap is undermining the integrity of employment eligibility verification,” said George Fishman, the Center’s senior legal fellow and the report’s author. “Congress can curb the impact of identity theft on E-Verify by requiring states to grant DHS access to their DMV driver’s license photos. The system is only as strong as the data behind it.”
Background
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) made it unlawful for employers to knowingly employ illegal aliens and created the I-9 document verification process. In response to document fraud, Congress created E-Verify in 1996, an electronic system that checks new hires’ Social Security information against federal databases.
Key Problems
- E-Verify may check fictitious numbers and counterfeit documents – not identities.
Illegal aliens using valid but stolen or borrowed Social Security numbers can still pass E-Verify.
- Photo-matching exists, but is limited.
Employers can match photos for DHS work permits, green cards, or passports – but not state driver's licenses
, which are the most common ID shown by new hires.
- States control access to DMV photos.
Some states, including New York, refuse to share access to driver’s license photos with DHS, preventing E-Verify from detecting mismatched identities.
What Congress Should Do
- Require true facial comparison in E-Verify photo-matching.
Employers should be required to compare the photo retrieved through the E-Verify system directly to the face of the new hire – not just the photo on the document presented.
- Mandate that states share driver's license photos with DHS.
The photo data provided would be for the limited and specific purpose of identity verification within the E-Verify system.
- Require states participate in the RIDE program.
States should be compelled to join the Records and Information from DMVs for E-Verify (RIDE) program, enabling real-time validation of driver’s license information presented during the hiring process.
- Rely on established Supreme Court precedent.
The Supreme Court has upheld federal requirements for states to provide data, indicating that such mandates do not violate the Tenth Amendment when they do not compel states to enact or enforce federal regulatory programs.
