Utah city urges business owners to use E-Verify

Federal law prohibits the employment of undocumented immigrants. West Valley City, Utah, officials recently took an extra step toward ensuring legislative compliance by passing a resolution encouraging local businesses to verify worker status, the Deseret News reports. Paper forms that business owners must fill out to report on worker status will now include a checkbox to indicate if the employer plans to use or is using a status verification system. However, checking the box is not mandatory. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, there is no penalty for declining to answer the question and doing so will not affect the status of job applicants. "The city will not be sitting over your shoulder to make sure you register for E-Verify," West Valley city councilman Corey Rushton told the Deseret News, referring to the free program operated by the United States Department of Homeland Security that compares a person's identity with government records. Mayor Mike Winder hopes the resolution will mitigate identity theft issues and maintain fair competition among the city's approximately 5,000 businesses.