WASHINGTON—The Department of Justice today filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking to invalidate an Illinois state law that attempts to prevent employers from using DHS’s E-Verify system, which allows them to check in real-time whether new hires are authorized to work in the United States. The lawsuit seeks a declaration that a law passed earlier this year by the Illinois legislature and signed by the Governor that prohibits employers from enrolling in the Department’s E-Verify system is invalid.
“E-verify or the Basic Pilot Program, authorized by Congress, is the on-line system that allows employers to verify whether new hires are allowed to work in the United States,” said Carl Nichols, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Today’s lawsuit seeks to invalidate an Illinois state law that frustrates our ability to assist employers in making sure their workforce is legal, and in doing so conflicts with federal law.”
###
07-757