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1 1 (November 04, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdcmk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ~* Conreqmsiona Research Servi Federal Regulation of Alien Employment and Preemption over State Laws November 4, 2020 The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) established rules governing the employment of non-U.S. nationals (aliens) in the United States. IRCA made it unlawful for employers to knowingly hire unauthorized aliens who lack federal permission to work in this country. The statute also created an employment verification system to determine an employee's work eligibility. IRCA's comprehensive scheme for regulating alien employment displaced a considerable amount of state regulation. But questions remain about the degree of that displacement. In the last decade, the Supreme Court considered several challenges to state laws regulating the employment of aliens. These challenges centered on whether IRCA preempted those state laws, rendering them unenforceable. The Court has held that certain state laws regulating alien employment are preempted because they intrude upon the federal government's regulatory domain, such as those imposing criminal penalties upon unauthorized aliens who seek employment. But the Court has upheld other state laws or actions relating to the employment of aliens that do not necessarily interfere with the federal immigration enforcement scheme, including measures requiring employers within the state to participate in the federal electronic employer verification system or sanctioning persons who obtain employment through use of fraudulent documents. This Legal Sidebar provides an overview of IRCA, the doctrine of federal preemption, and the Supreme Court's jurisprudence about the preemptive reach of IRCA over state employment laws. The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 Before IRCA, federal law did not directly address the employment of aliens who were unlawfully present in the United States, and, to the extent the employment of unlawfully present aliens was regulated, it was done at the state level. For example, a pre-IRCA California statute prohibited the employment of aliens who were not entitled to lawful residence in the United States if such employment would have an adverse effect on lawful resident workers. The enactment of IRCA in 1986 stemm'ed from federal lawmakers' concerns about the flow of unauthorized immigration into the United States. Congress sought to create a comprehensive framework for combatting the employment of illegal aliens, which Congress believed would reduce incentives for aliens to unlawfully enter the country to seek employment. IRCA made it unlawful for an employer to knowingly hire an unauthorized alien, defined as an alien who was not a lawful permanent resident (LPR) or otherwise authorized by immigration officials to be Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress. gov LSB10550 CRS Legai Sidebar Prepared for Members and Commi :tees of Congress -------------------------------- ------ --------------------------------------------------------

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