Employers in Utah could be among the first in the country to face criminal charges for failing to verify their workers’ immigration status, under a bill passed Friday by a leg islative committee that now moves to the full Senate.

Several states require businesses to use the federal E-Verify program, but gen erally only under threat of financial penalties.

In Mississippi, employers who hire illegal immigrants can lose their business license, but illegal immigrants found working there are eligible for a one-year prison sentence.

Under the Utah bill, employ ers who fail to comply could face a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Bill supporters said enacting the measure would stop iden tity theft and encourage illegal immigrants to leave Utah.

“It’s not a total panacea, but it almost is,” said Senate Bill 251’s sponsor, Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan.

About 184,000 of the nation’s 7 million to 8 million employers use E-Verify, a Web based system that checks a worker’s information against Department of Homeland Security and Social Security databases to determine U.S. employment eligibility.

via Employers hiring illegal immigrants may be headed to jail | thespectrum.com | The Spectrum.