Some Democrats warn stricter E-Verify requirements could drive workforce away
The Florida Legislature could soon require all companies to verify that new employees have authorization to work in the country, but Democrats Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Rep. Dottie Joseph say that the mandate would prompt immigrant workers to leave the state.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost joined Smith and Joseph during a Monday press conference in the Capitol to bash moves from the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Legislature to carry out mass deportations. State lawmakers recently put forward $250 million to reimburse local law enforcement cooperating with federal agencies in internal immigration enforcement.
'We need everybody to join this fight. Yeah, you business owners out there, especially in Orlando, we know that undocumented brothers, sisters, and siblings, people on TPS, immigrants, they help make Florida what it is,' Frost said. 'They help ensure that people are able to buy food at the grocery store, are able to go to Orlando, the magical place on earth. It's only magical because of the workers.'
Although lawmakers focused on immigration during special sessions that prompted a public dispute between Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Ron DeSantis, multiple bills up for consideration over the next several weeks could bring further restrictions for immigrants without permanent legal status.
Smith and Joseph referred to the E-Verify system as error-prone. Companies employing more than 25 people must use E-verify to ensure new hires have permission to work in the country. Included in the proposed 'Florida Economic Prosperity and Immigration Act,' which Smith and Joseph filed last week, is a provision that would remove the requirement for private companies to use E-Verify. With Democrats in the superminority, the bill is unlikely to even get heard in committee.
'Look, I think it's really, really important that we understand that the E-verify system is problematic. It is error-prone, and it is not an accurate way to make sure that we are getting qualified workers in the state of Florida,' Smith said.
From 2021 to 2024, E-Verify initially erroneously labeled more than 212,000 people as not eligible to work, which accounted for 0.1% to 0.2% of eligibility checks per year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Dueling efforts to expand E-Verify to all employers emerge ahead of legislative session
Proposals by Republicans and Democrats would require all employers to use E-Verify. However, only bills from Democratic Senate Leader Jason Pizzo and Democratic Rep. Allison Tant of Tallahassee would bring harsher penalties for companies hiring people unauthorized to work.
'While many have talked tough on combatting illegal immigration, here we are in 2025, and I, the Democratic minority leader, was the first to file a bill requiring E-Verify for all employers because you are not serious about curbing illegal immigration if you continue to cower to donors and not listen to our citizens,' Pizzo said during his response to DeSantis' State of the State address on March 4.
During the special session, Pizzo was one of the loudest critics of the large companies employing immigrants lacking work permits remaining largely unscathed as Republicans tout their policies as the strongest in the nation to combat unauthorized immigration.
Joseph called the repeal of in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, which the Legislature approved last month, and the E-Verify bills political gamesmanship.
'There is a new world order. Look, we're talking about the E-Verify bills or other bills that are designed to denigrate and attack immigrant communities,' she said. 'Those are all things just to keep us distracted and fighting with each other when people are literally taking away our lifelines for Medicaid, Social Security, and a whole host of other things.'
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