H.R. 251 — Legal Workforce Act

This section revises the employment eligibility verification process under INA Section 274A(b) (i.e., Form I-9 requirements) for persons or entities hiring, recruiting, or referring individuals for employment in the United States. It requires attestation—by both the employer (after examining documents) and the individual—that the individual is authorized to work; specifies acceptable documents evidencing both employment authorization and identity (e.g., unexpired U.S. passport or passport card, permanent resident card with photo, employment authorization card with photo, foreign passport with Form I-94 for nonimmigrants, FSM/RMI passport with Form I-94), employment authorization (e.g., Social Security account number card not invalid for employment), or identity (e.g., state driver's license or ID with photo, U.S. military ID, Native American tribal ID, or parent/guardian attestation for individuals under 18); directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to designate the attestation form (including electronic/telephonic formats) by regulation within six months of enactment of the Legal Workforce Act; and authorizes the Secretary to prohibit or condition use of certain documents if unreliable or fraudulently used.

This section revises the employment eligibility verification system under section 274A(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by replacing existing provisions with requirements for the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish and administer a system—patterned on the 1996 pilot program—that responds to employer inquiries via toll-free telephone and electronic media on an individual's identity and employment authorization. The system must provide an initial confirmation or tentative nonconfirmation within 3 working days; for tentative nonconfirmations, a secondary process must yield final confirmation or nonconfirmation within 10 working days (extendable once by 10 working days on a case-by-case basis, with notice to the employee and employer). The system must be designed to maximize reliability and ease of use; protect privacy and security; respond to all inquiries and register non-responses; include safeguards against discrimination based on national origin or citizenship status and against identity theft; and limit verification to newly hired, referred, or recruited individuals; current or prospective employees; or voluntary self-verifications. The Commissioner of Social Security must validate names and Social Security numbers within specified time frames without disclosing other information, and the Secretary must similarly validate noncitizen information.

This section amends the employer sanctions provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(a)) to broaden unlawful employment practices. Specifically, it (1) removes the "for a fee" requirement from the prohibition on recruiting or referring for employment a known unauthorized alien; (2) revises paragraph (1)(B) to prohibit any person or entity from hiring, continuing to employ, recruiting, or referring for employment without complying with Form I-9 employment eligibility verification requirements (previously limited to hiring by all entities or recruiting/referring by agricultural entities); and (3) modifies the continuing employment prohibition in paragraph (2) to apply after complying with paragraph (1) rather than after hiring. It also adds definitions of "recruit" and "refer" to subsection (h)(5), generally limited to activities for remuneration but including union hiring halls and labor service entities regardless of remuneration. (Thus, the changes expand civil and criminal liability for a wider range of recruitment, referral, hiring, and retention activities lacking I-9 compliance.) The amendments generally take effect one year after enactment, except those relating to continuation of employment, which take effect six months after enactment.

This section revises the good faith defense available to employers and other entities required to comply with employment eligibility verification requirements (i.e., Form I-9 processes under INA §274A(b)) against claims of unlawfully hiring unauthorized aliens. Under the revised defense, good faith compliance with verification requirements (1) immunizes employers from federal, state, or local criminal or civil liability for employment-related actions (e.g., hiring, firing) taken in reliance on E-Verify results (i.e., the DHS electronic verification system under INA §274A(d)); and (2) establishes compliance with anti-discrimination and verification obligations absent clear and convincing evidence from DHS of the employer's knowledge of an employee's unauthorized status. It further provides that use of reasonable, secure technology to authenticate new employee identity mitigates liability assessments (proved by preponderance of evidence) and specifies that the defense is unavailable if an employer fails to timely seek or obtain E-Verify confirmation (with an exception for good faith attempts during system nonresponse periods). (As background, the prior defense was limited to an affirmative defense against knowing hires of unauthorized aliens based solely on Form I-9 compliance; thus, the revision expands protections, ties the defense to E-Verify use, and raises DHS's evidentiary burden.)

This section revises the preemption provision in INA §274A(h)(2) (governing unlawful employment of unauthorized aliens) to (1) establish a single national policy preempting any state or local law, ordinance, policy, or rule—including any criminal or civil fine or penalty structure—related to the hiring, continued employment, or employment eligibility verification of unauthorized aliens; and (2) authorize states, localities, municipalities, or political subdivisions to (a) impose business licensing penalties for failure to use the employment eligibility verification system (i.e., E-Verify) as required under INA §274A(b) and (b) enforce INA §274A at state cost by following federal regulations, penalty structures, rules, and guidance, with states permitted to collect fines. (Thus, employers cannot face enforcement, audit, or investigation by both federal agencies and states for the same violation, with the first to initiate enforcement having right of first refusal; the DHS Secretary must share all relevant federal guidance, training, and instructions with states.)

This section repeals Subtitle A of title IV of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note), which authorized the Basic Pilot employment eligibility confirmation system (i.e., the predecessor to E-Verify, a voluntary program allowing employers to verify new hires' work authorization), effective 30 months after enactment. It (1) deems any references in federal law, executive orders, rules, or agency documents to the repealed Basic Pilot system to instead refer to the employment eligibility confirmation system under INA §274A(d), as amended by section 3 of this Act; and (2) makes a conforming clerical amendment to the table of sections for IIRIRA.

This section revises civil and criminal penalties under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (8 U.S.C. 1324a), which prohibits knowingly hiring, recruiting, or continuing to employ unauthorized aliens and requires employers to complete Form I-9 employment eligibility verification. Specifically, it (1) transfers enforcement authority in subsection (e)(1) from the Attorney General to the Secretary of Homeland Security; (2) increases civil penalties in subsection (e)(4)(A) for knowing violations to $2,500-$5,000 for first offenses (from $250-$2,000), $5,000-$10,000 for serious violations (from $2,000-$5,000), and $10,000-$25,000 for repeat violations (from $3,000-$10,000); (3) increases civil penalties in subsection (e)(5) for paperwork violations to $1,000 (from $100) for first offenses and $25,000 (from $1,000) for subsequent offenses, and treats failures to use the employment eligibility verification system (i.e., E-Verify) or knowingly providing false information to it as violations of subsection (a)(1)(A); (4) adds to subsection (e) a good faith exemption allowing waiver or reduction of penalties (para. (10)), mitigation based on business size (para. (11)), authority to debar repeat violators or those convicted of crimes under this section from federal contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements pursuant to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (para. (12)), and an office to receive, investigate, and report on complaints from state and local governments about potential violations (para. (13)); and (5) amends the criminal penalty in subsection (f)(1) for patterns or practices of knowing violations.

This section expands the documents subject to criminal penalties under 18 U.S.C. §1546(b) for fraud and misuse—specifically in paragraphs (1) and (2)—to include any document meant to establish work authorization (including those described in INA §274A(b) (i.e., Form I-9 employment eligibility verification documents such as passports, Social Security cards, and birth certificates)).

This section requires the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of Homeland Security to enter into and maintain an agreement, effective for fiscal years beginning on or after October 1, 2025, under which DHS provides SSA full funding for its responsibilities under the employment eligibility verification system (E-Verify; 8 U.S.C. 1324a(d)), as amended by section 3—including acquiring, installing, and maintaining necessary technology (exclusive to those duties) and responding to individuals contesting tentative nonconfirmations. (1) Funds must be provided annually in advance of each quarter based on agreed estimating methodology (except if delayed by appropriations); and (2) the agreement requires annual accounting and reconciliation of costs, reviewed by the inspectors general of SSA and DHS. (As background, E-Verify enables employers to electronically confirm new hires' work authorization using SSA and DHS data; section 3 presumably expands its use.) If no agreement is reached by October 1 of the fiscal year, the prior agreement continues on an interim basis (adjusted by OMB for inflation and request volume), with notifications to specified House and Senate committees of the delay and quarterly status updates until resolved.

This section directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Commissioner of Social Security, to establish three programs to prevent identity fraud in the employment eligibility verification system (E-Verify) under section 274A(d) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324a(d)): (1) blocking social security account numbers (SSNs) identified as subject to unusual multiple use or suspected compromise, unless the user proves legitimate ownership through secure procedures; (2) enabling victims of identity fraud and others to suspend or limit SSN use, with optional pilot implementation; and (3) enabling parents or legal guardians to suspend or limit use of a minor child's SSN, with optional pilot implementation.

This section requires employers using the photo matching tool of the E-Verify System (i.e., the federal electronic system for verifying the employment eligibility of new hires) to match the tool's photograph to both (1) the photograph on the employee's identity or employment eligibility document and (2) the employee's face.

This section directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, after consultation with the Commissioner of Social Security and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to establish by regulation, not later than 24 months after enactment, at least two identity authentication employment eligibility verification pilot programs using separate and distinct technologies (Authentication Pilots). The pilots provide identity authentication and employment eligibility verification for enrolled new employees to any electing employer, which may cancel participation after one year without prejudice to future participation; the Secretary must report findings—including technologies chosen—to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees not later than 12 months after the pilots commence.

This section directs the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration to complete, not later than one year after enactment, audits of three categories to uncover evidence of individuals not authorized to work in the United States: (1) workers disputing wages reported on their Social Security account number due to suspected use by another individual; (2) children's Social Security account numbers used for work purposes; and (3) employers with significant numbers of mismatched Social Security account numbers or names in wage reporting. It further requires the Inspector General to submit the audits to the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance, whose chairmen will determine information to share with the Secretary of Homeland Security for investigating such unauthorized employment.