President Bush Orders Contractors To Verify Immigration Status Of Employees
The Associated Press is reporting that President Bush has signed an executive order requiring contractors and others who do business with the federal government to verify that their employees are working in the United States legally
The order says federal departments and agencies must require contractors to use an electronic system to verify that the workers are eligible to work in the U.S.
AP notes that this order comes as a worker verification bill has stalled in Congress.
The impact of this executive order could be enormous. There are tens of thousands of employers who "do business" with the government, including most hospitals and universities. Plus of course every company that deals with the Department of Defense. One big question unanswered for now is when the order goes into effect.