Thread: DHS Announces E-Verify Initiatives and Defends Accuracy Rate

DHS Announces E-Verify Initiatives and Defends Accuracy Rate

E-Verify, Enforcement, USCIS -
by John Fay -
March 17, 2010 - 23:59

Training Video Snapshot

Today, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced several new E-Verify initiatives in response to concerns about the program’s overall effectiveness and accuracy. These efforts are designed to increase employer compliance with various E-Verify rules, prevent employment discrimination and deal with identity theft. In particular:

1.DHS has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice whereby the two agencies will share information concerning potential E-Verify discrimination or misuse, which will ultimately bring noncompliant employers under greater scrutiny.

2.DHS is setting up an informational telephone hotline for employees seeking E-Verify information or looking to file a complaint about possible discrimination or employer misuse. The hotline number is (888) 897-7781 and will be active beginning April 5, 2010.

3.DHS has published training videos on E-Verify procedures and policies, with a particular emphasis on employee rights. The video, which depicts the story of an employee who receives a TNC at work, can be viewed in English and Spanish on YouTube here.

In related news, the DHS publicly defended E-Verify on its blog today, asserting that the system’s accuracy and efficiency continues to improve despite news to the contrary. Lauren Kielsmeier, the Acting Deputy Director and Chief of Staff for USCIS, points out that just 3.3% of the overall population studied by Westat (the independent evaluation firm) was incorrectly found to be work authorized. She also writes that USCIS is planning additional enhancements to E-Verify such as adding U.S. passports to the photo tool and working with states to access state driver’s license data. USCIS is also planning to launch a pilot program to explore the use of biometric or biographic-based verification.

Latest stats: more than 192,000 participating employers at more than 705,000 worksites nationwide currently use E-Verify to electronically verify their workers’ employment eligibility. Since Oct. 1, 2009, E-Verify has processed more than six million queries.

everivyi9news.com

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

E-Verify: Truth in Numbers

Recently, some media reports have used statistics that appear to call into question the effectiveness and accuracy of E-Verify. I’d like to set record straight. A report by the independent research firm Westat, using a sample from a three month period in 2008, concluded that E-Verify was accurate 96 percent of the time. Since then, the Obama administration has taken significant steps to further improve E-Verify.

Read the report for yourself here.

What else did this report tell us about E-Verify?

93.8 percent of workers screened by E-Verify were authorized for employment—and the system instantly and accurately confirmed more than 99 percent of these eligible workers.

The remaining 6.2 percent were not eligible for employment. Out of this estimated 6.2 percent, approximately half were told they are work authorized when they were not—just 3.3 percent of the overall population screened by E-Verify.

To be clear, this means that only an estimated 3.3 percent of all workers screened by E-Verify were incorrectly told they were work authorized.

The system’s accuracy and efficiency continues to improve, reflecting the changes and improvements to E-Verify that USCIS has made over the past year—and continues to make.

Our anti-fraud efforts are improving E-Verify’s ability to prevent illegal workers from using stolen identities to obtain employment—including a photograph screening capability that allows a participating employer to check if photos on Employment Authorization Documents (EAD) or Permanent Resident Cards (green cards) are exact matches with the images stored in USCIS databases.

USCIS is also planning additional enhancements to E-Verify that will further improve employer compliance, reduce fraud and increase efficiency. We are adding U.S. passports to the list of documents available to provide photo confirmation, and working with states to access state driver’s license data—the #1 document used to validate identity. We’re also planning to launch a pilot program to explore the use of biometric or biographic-based verification.

Employers at more than 600,000 worksites nationwide used E-Verify to check the work authorization status of more than 8.5 million workers during fiscal year 2009, and E-Verify has processed more than five million queries during the last five months alone.

Quite simply, E-Verify ensures a legal workforce while protecting the rights of employers and employees alike—accurately, easily and efficiently. It is critically important to a legal workforce and directly impacts national security and our economy. The ultimate success of E-Verify will rely on public-private cooperation, and we are committed to continuing to work with all of our partners to improve this tool.

Lauren Kielsmeier is the Acting Deputy Director and Chief of Staff for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

http://www.dhs.gov/journal/theblog/2010 ... mbers.html