Remember: Harsh Immigration Regulations Make American Lives Miserable, Too

Remember
that awful federal government shutdown last year? From a
libertarian perspective, having the federal government shut down
doesn’t inherently sound like a bad thing. But, believe it or not,
the federal government shutdown made life miserable for people
looking for jobs in the private sector.

That’s because the government shutdown also rendered the
E-Verify service unusable. E-Verify is the system by which
employers check the citizenship status for potential employees.
Federal law requires employers to verify their citizens can legally
work in the United States. Some states have laws requiring some
employers to use E-Verify for this process. When the government
shut down, this left many employers skittish about hiring new
employees, even though the federal government said it wouldn’t hold
anybody responsible for not using E-Verify during the closure, as
long as they filled out the right paperwork.

I
highlighted this issue during the government shutdown as one of
the unfortunate consequences of becoming a society where we had to
ask the government permission to live our lives and engage in
commerce. Last year, Peter Suderman reminded us all that even when
it isn’t shut down, E-Verify is far from a perfect system that has

falsely told people they couldn’t legally work in the United
States. This ends up costing businesses and American citizens
significant amounts of time and money. Keep this in mind whenever
anybody proposes more regulations or laws trying to “fix” illegal
immigration. The unintended consequences will fall upon citizens as
well.

Below, Reason TV interviewed Chris Calabrese with the American
Civil Liberties Union about problems with E-Verify: