While Florida failed to approve an E-Verify bill this year, all of its neighboring states and even Congress are moving forward with immigration laws.

Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi have passed tough E-Verify laws requiring employers to use the federal database to check the legal status of newly hired workers.

"Florida is a peninsula surrounded by water and states with mandatory E-Verify laws," said George Fuller, a Florida-based immigration activist.

More states may be emboldened to enact E-Verify statutes since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Arizona's requirement last month. The court ruled that states can use their business licensing laws to mandate E-Verify's use and punish employers who fail to do so.

With Florida's immediate neighbors cracking down on the hiring of illegal aliens, immigration-enforcement advocates predict that the Sunshine State will become an even larger magnet for undocumented workers.

"We just became a sanctuary state," Robin Stublen, a tea party leader from Charlotte County, said after Florida lawmakers failed to pass an E-Verify bill.

Florida is currently home to an estimated 1 million illegal aliens, and the immigration-enforcement group Federation for American Immigration Reform figures that the state spends $5.5 billion a year in taxpayer money to provide educational, medical and social services to illegals.

The high court's approval of Arizona's E-Verify law could change the political dynamic in Washington, where President Barack Obama has called for another round of immigration reform.

Mark Krikorian of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, said the administration and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had wanted to hold mandatory E-Verify as a bargaining chip for "comprehensive immigration reform."

"This involved amnesty for the Obama administration and massive increases in imported captive labor ['guest workers'] for the Chamber," Krikorian said.

"But the court's decision makes it more likely Congress will be able to pass such a mandate on its own, not bundled with any amnesty or guest-worker provisions," Krikorian said.

Indeed, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, on Tuesday introduced a bill mandating that most or all employers across the country enroll in the free federal E-Verify program.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., co-sponsored the Senate version of the measure, titled the Achieving Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act.

"While 26 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed, 7 million individuals work illegally in the United States," Smith wrote in an op-ed with Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Calif. "On top of all the challenges Americans face today, it is inexcusable that Americans and legal workers have to compete with illegal immigrants for scarce jobs.

"Fortunately, there is a tool available to preserve jobs for legal workers: E-Verify. But the program is voluntary. Congress has the opportunity to expand E-Verify -- including making it mandatory -- so more job opportunities are made available to unemployed Americans."

Joe Kefauver, in a commentary for Convenience Store News, wrote this month:

"While it is unclear how it will all play out, one thing is very clear to those who have been closely involved in this issue across the country -- the E-Verify Train has not only left the station, it is barreling down the track like a runaway locomotive.

"Pending action at the federal level is going to force some quick decision-making for the business community."