Page 1 of 10 12345 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 94
Like Tree119Likes

Thread: E-Verify doesn't prevent many companies from hiring undocumented workers

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member 6 Million Dollar Man's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    1,794

    E-Verify doesn't prevent many companies from hiring undocumented workers

    E-Verify doesn't prevent many companies from hiring undocumented workers

    Tatiana SanchezThe Mercury News


    When federal agents raided dozens of 7-Eleven stores across the country earlier this month and arrested 21 workers suspected of being undocumented immigrants, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director Tom Homan declared that the highly publicized raids were meant to send a message to employers: "If you are found to be breaking the law, you will be held accountable."

    But after all the smoke from the day's fiery rhetoric cleared, one huge question remained: How did these undocumented immigrants get hired in the first place?


    At a time when the national debate over immigration is at its tipping point, questions have begun to resurface about E-Verify a 21-year-old electronic program designed to filter out undocumented immigrants who apply for jobs leaving many Americans wondering how millions of them slip through the system.

    After all, credit card companies nearly seamlessly verify tens of millions of 16-digit numbers every day with a tiny little machine that easily fits on the counter of nearly every store in America. What could be so hard about verifying that every job applicant has a valid Social Security number or "alien registration number" that indicates that the jobseeker is a legal U.S. resident even if he or she is not yet a citizen.


    But many immigration policy experts say E-Verify is not what it seems. They contend it's essentially a political fig leaf, with so many significant flaws and loopholes that it allows employers to knowingly hire undocumented workers with little repercussions for doing so.

    Only 3,000 of hundreds of thousands of companies enrolled in E-Verify were audited during the eight years of the Obama administration, said Daniel Costa, director of immigration law and policy research for the Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think tank based in Washington, D.C.

    "They continue to be able to hire undocumented workers without having to verify anything with the government," Costa said.

    With such a low chance of being audited, Costa said, E-Verify is "a wink and a nod from the government to employers" that lets them continue to hire undocumented workers.

    An estimated 763,500 employers were taking part in E-verify as of Jan. 16, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees the program.

    That sounds like a lot, but it's only a tiny percentage of the more than 18 million businesses in the U.S.
    The reason for the low participation rate is that the program is voluntary in most states. It's mandatory only for businesses that have been caught hiring undocumented immigrants.

    In the last fiscal year, 98.88 percent of the employees entered into the E-Verify system were cleared to work, requiring no employee or employer action, according to USCIS.

    Calls for "mandatory E-Verify" particularly among immigration hardliners in the Republican Party could be heard in the halls of Congress last week as legislators unsuccessfully tried to reach an immigration deal that would allow 800,000 young undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S.

    Polls have shown that more than two-thirds of the American public believe the E-Verify should be mandatory.
    Capitalizing on that sentiment, Rep. Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who sits on the House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, recently introduced a measure to require all employers to use the program. "By expanding the E-Verify system to all U.S. employers, this bill will ensure that jobs only go to legal workers," Smith said.

    But Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute's Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, a libertarian think-tank in Washington, D.C., said E-Verify simply checks documents that are submitted and accepts those documents even if they are fraudulent which is the way most undocumented immigrants secure employment.

    The Social Security Administration estimated that 1.8 million immigrants were working with fake or stolen Social Security cards in 2010 and that number is expected to reach 3.4 million by 2040.

    Even when E-verify is mandated, Nowrasteh said, "a large portion of employers still don't use it for new hires" because the government audits are so minimal.

    "People think this is going to be the way that illegal immigrants can't work in the U.S.," he said. "That is fantasy."
    So why does the program exist?

    Nowrasteh contends it's because E-Verify allows politicians to claim the U.S. is being tough on immigration without actually having to be tough.

    "Nobody wants to shut down businesses. That's expensive politically and economically," he said. "It's much easier to have a system that doesn't work (but which) sounds like a silver bullet."

    But some groups trying to put more restrictions of immigration say E-Verify isn't as flawed as critics make it seem and have called on federal officials to expand the program.

    The idea that somebody could put down a false or stolen Social Security number and get hired by an employer that uses E-Verify is "impossible" to believe, said Joe Guzzardi, spokesman for Progressives for Immigration Reform, an organization in Washington, D.C., that says it's fighting for more immigration restrictions on behalf of U.S. workers. The group wants to make E-Verify mandatory.

    U.S. immigration authorities say they've gradually improved the system over the years to fix some of its flaws and to close loopholes.

    Sharon Rummery, a spokeswoman for USCIS, said when it became known that people could get around E-Verify by taking on stolen identities, the agency in 2007 added a "photo tool" feature that allows employers to enter new hires into the system to check the photo on the identification card they used and compare it to the photo of the person who was originally granted the green card or work authorization document, Under E-Verify, once employees provide documents such as passports, Social Security cards and driver's licenses, employers use a device that looks a lot like the credit-card machines that stores use. A software program then runs the information on the documents through U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration databases to confirm whether the job applicant is here legally.

    If the information clears the system, the employer will receive an "Employment Authorized" message almost immediately. If the job applicant isn't able to work in the U.S., the employer will receive a "tentative non-confirmation" message, according to USCIS.

    The employer is then required to notify the employee, who is given a brief window of time to fix the issue. Those who are unable to provide documentation are not allowed to work.

    Companies that don't use E-Verify require jobseekers to fill out old-fashioned forms to check work eligibility. The employers then must certify that the documents provided by the applicant appear to be genuine.

    Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose and the ranking Democrat on the House's Immigration and Border Security Subcommittee, said E-Verify has a fairly high accuracy rate, but the underlying problem is the country's "completely broken" immigration system.
    Get breaking news with our free mobile app. Get it from the Apple app store or the Google Play store.

    She said employers may now have a reliable way to check if their workers are in the U.S. legally, but they know that they need those same workers to keep their businesses afloat.

    "You go into the fields in Salinas and you have agricultural workers picking the crops. You could use E- Verify and find out that half of them or more are undocumented," Lofgren added. "So then who picks the crops? That's the problem."
    E-Verify by the numbers

    To confirm a job applicant's eligibility to work in the U.S., the E-Verify program compares information provided by a job applicant with data in Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration computers.

    10.5 million � Number of queries run through the E-Verify system so far in the 2018 fiscal year, which began Oct 1.
    763,500 � Employers registered for E-Verify as of Jan. 16.
    2.5 million Number of hiring sites represented by E-Verify
    1,316 Average number of employers who have registered for the program weekly so far in fiscal 2018.
    Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...123-story.html



    Last edited by 6 Million Dollar Man; 07-14-2018 at 04:11 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member 6 Million Dollar Man's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    1,794
    I've always been a big supporter of E-Verify. I'll be the first one to admit when I was wrong. It may still be a good thing if it's fixed to actually work.

  3. #3
    Senior Member 6 Million Dollar Man's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    1,794
    Let me again stress the most important part of this article:

    With such a low chance of being audited, Costa said, E-Verify is "a wink and a nod from the government to employers" that lets them continue to hire undocumented workers.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    55,883
    Thanks for posting that article, Six Million Dollar Man. I've never been a big fan of E-Verify because I never thought it would stop the willful hiring of illegal aliens which is the problem, not the ones who unintentionally hire them.
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  5. #5
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Posts
    30,906
    Fine and JAIL the employers!
    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

  6. #6
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Posts
    55,883
    That puts Americans who work there out of work. The solution is MASSIVE RAPID DEPORTATIONS. That is the law, that is why the federal government has the authority to prohibit immigration in the US Constitution, so it can remove them from our premises. Fining and jailing employers that shuts down their business or results in the lay off of Americans for hiring illegal aliens the government is allowing to stay in our country makes no sense to me.

    GET THE GAWD DAMN ILLEGAL ALIENS OUT OF THE COUNTRY AND KEEP THEM OUT. Everyone wants to punish Americans for something illegal aliens are doing. Punish the illegal aliens, get them out of here. Announce an EO authorizing all state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce US immigration law. They're every bit as qualified as any DOJ lawyer and and as equally qualified as any ICE agent or BP agent. This isn't rocket science, it's boots on the ground, removing this scourge from our otherwise lovely nation.
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts at https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  7. #7
    MW
    MW is offline
    Senior Member MW's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    North Carolina
    Posts
    25,717
    Quote Originally Posted by Beezer View Post
    Fine and JAIL the employers!
    I agree. Send the CEO (if he knew) or manager who did the hiring to prison. No need to worry about the legal workers because someone else will step up to replace their former boss. Do this (send them to prison) and the new boss or hiring manager will not continue the practice that sent their former boss to jail.

    I strongly support E-verify even if corporate America and businesses do not.
    Last edited by MW; 07-14-2018 at 07:25 PM.

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts athttps://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  8. #8
    Senior Member stoptheinvaders's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    3,374
    Quote Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man View Post


    Nowrasteh contends it's because E-Verify allows politicians to claim the U.S. is being tough on immigration without actually having to be tough.

    "Nobody wants to shut down businesses. That's expensive politically and economically," he said. "It's much easier to have a system that doesn't work (but which) sounds like a silver bullet."

    You've got to Stand for Something or You'll Fall for Anything

  9. #9
    MW
    MW is offline
    Senior Member MW's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    North Carolina
    Posts
    25,717
    Quote Originally Posted by Judy View Post
    That puts Americans who work there out of work. The solution is MASSIVE RAPID DEPORTATIONS. That is the law, that is why the federal government has the authority to prohibit immigration in the US Constitution, so it can remove them from our premises. Fining and jailing employers that shuts down their business or results in the lay off of Americans for hiring illegal aliens the government is allowing to stay in our country makes no sense to me.

    GET THE GAWD DAMN ILLEGAL ALIENS OUT OF THE COUNTRY AND KEEP THEM OUT. Everyone wants to punish Americans for something illegal aliens are doing. Punish the illegal aliens, get them out of here. Announce an EO authorizing all state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce US immigration law. They're every bit as qualified as any DOJ lawyer and and as equally qualified as any ICE agent or BP agent. This isn't rocket science, it's boots on the ground, removing this scourge from our otherwise lovely nation.
    That puts Americans who work there out of work.
    No, most of the time it doesn't because there is always someone to step up and take on the job. Very few employers are actually expendable. That even goes for a corporate CEO or business owner. The business owner normally has another family member or his second in charge that can continue operating the business. Of course that may not work for a landscaping company owner that has eight workers and they're all illegal aliens. That's the kind of business that needs to go under anyway.

    Fining and jailing employers that shuts down their business or results in the lay off of Americans for hiring illegal aliens the government is allowing to stay in our country makes no sense to me.
    If they knowingly hire illegals, they deserve to have their company shut down. However, as I explained above, that's not typically what happens. Of course you know that.

    Everyone wants to punish Americans for something illegal aliens are doing.
    You're damn right we want to punish folks that aid and abet illegal immigrants! Aiding and abetting illegal immigrants is against the law and anyone that does it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible under law. What's wrong with that?

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

    Support our FIGHT AGAINST illegal immigration & Amnesty by joining our E-mail Alerts athttps://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  10. #10
    Senior Member stoptheinvaders's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Posts
    3,374
    Quote Originally Posted by Judy View Post
    Fining and jailing employers that shuts down their business or results in the lay off of Americans for hiring illegal aliens the government is allowing to stay in our country makes no sense to me.
    Disagree about not jailing the employers. We have many citizens who are profiting from this invasion. They must be punished also.
    You've got to Stand for Something or You'll Fall for Anything

Page 1 of 10 12345 ... LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. Hiring Undocumented Workers May Cost Companies Their Healthcare Plans
    By Jean in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 01-06-2015, 12:30 AM
  2. A plan to prevent undocumented workers from coming into U.S.
    By Jean in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 11-07-2011, 12:43 AM
  3. (U.S.) Gov't going after companies hiring illegal workers
    By ShockedinCalifornia in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 04-30-2009, 12:36 PM
  4. OR -Bill would force companies to verify workers' imm. st.
    By FedUpinFarmersBranch in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-10-2009, 07:30 AM
  5. OH: Legislation developed to prevent hiring illegal workers
    By Nouveauxpoor in forum illegal immigration News Stories & Reports
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 08-02-2007, 01:03 PM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •