Proposed legislation has been filed in Arkansas that would require local governments and state agencies, including universities, to verify a student’s or potential employee’s Social Security number before he’s issued an ID card.

Designed to protect against terrorists and the hiring or granting of in-state tuition to illegal aliens, the bill would force governments and colleges to use the federal government’s electronic employment verification system, E-Verify, to check Social Security numbers. Critics, however, say E-Verify can only determine whether a Social Security number is valid, not whether a person who is presenting the number for employment or for admission is the person who was issued the number by the Social Security Administration.