State lawmakers are trying to crack down on the unscrupulous employers who use cheap, illegal immigrant laborers to drive down Massachusetts workers’ wages.

Their proposed bill, “An Act Protecting Massachusetts Workers” (H.1866/S.1169), would require businesses to use the federal government’s free E-Verify system to check whether newly hired employees are legally eligible to work in the United States.

E-Verify is the most effective and humane way to deter illegal immigration and protect American workers. And it’s needed now more than ever, because Massachusetts’ migrant crisis is worsening by the day. Roughly 25,000 migrants have arrived in recent months — many of them illegally. Emergency shelters are so crowded that Gov. Healey is creating a waitlist.

The humanitarian crisis extends well beyond homeless shelters. When employers fill job openings with illegal immigrants who’ll accept subpar wages and working conditions, it undercuts the bargaining power of legal workers — thereby impoverishing American citizens and legal immigrants alike.

Over the last decade, Massachusetts has grown its illegal immigrant population faster than any other state — expanding it to nearly 300,000, or 5% of the state’s workforce. These arrivals compete directly with Massachusetts residents for jobs, especially in the construction industry, which employs roughly 15% of Massachusetts’ working illegal immigrant population.

Employers benefit from cheap labor, but Bay State workers looking to earn a living wage don’t. It’s simple economics: flood the labor market with more workers, and employers can offer lower wages and still fill positions. No wonder that, over the last 10 years, low-paid workers’ real wages have plunged more significantly in Massachusetts than in any other state.

The illegal workers suffer too. They’re often forced to endure long hours and dangerous working conditions that no legal resident would tolerate. According to one investigative news source, it’s common for Massachusetts employers to provide vulnerable employees with housing — and then dangle homelessness as a penalty for resisting severe working conditions.

Mandatory E-Verify would end this exploitation — without unduly burdening employers. The portal is fast and easy to use. It simply compares the information on a new employee’s I-9 form — which employers already must collect — with government records to confirm people are who they say they are. The system classifies more than 98% of employees as “work authorized” instantly or within 24 hours. Most of the roughly 2% who aren’t immediately greenlit turn out to be illegal immigrants.

By turning off the “jobs magnet” that attracts illegal workers, E-Verify deters people from crossing the border illegally in the first place. According to a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, implementing universal E-Verify reduced Alabama’s population of likely unauthorized workers by as much as 57%, compared to the number of illegal workers the state would have hosted without such a mandate. And just eight years after implementing E-Verify, Mississippi had 83% fewer likely unauthorized workers than otherwise projected.

Mandating E-Verify wouldn’t be a radical choice. At least 19 states already require some or all businesses to use the system — including Democratic-leaning states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia.

E-Verify boasts strong bipartisan approval. When asked if they’d support universally mandating the system for all employers, 83% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats nationwide answered “yes,” according to a Rasmussen poll taken in early November.

Massachusetts lawmakers can protect their constituents’ jobs and wages — and prevent the inhumane exploitation of migrants — by passing this commonsense bill.

John Thompson is co-chair of the Massachusetts Coalition for Immigration Reform.