Thread: DHS Unveils Initiatives to Enhance E-Verify

DHS Unveils Initiatives to Enhance E-Verify

Release Date: March 17, 2010
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

Agreement with Department of Justice and Outreach Initiatives Will Strengthen E-Verify for Employers and Employees

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today joined U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas to announce a trio of initiatives to strengthen the efficiency and accuracy of the E-Verify system.

These initiatives include a new agreement with the Department of Justice that will streamline the adjudication process in cases of E-Verify misuse and discrimination; an informational telephone hotline for employees to provide a more timely, effective and seamless customer experience for workers seeking E-Verify information; and new training videos focusing on E-Verify procedures and policies, employee rights and employer responsibilities in English and Spanish.

“E-Verify is a smart, simple and effective tool that helps employers across the country maintain a legal workforce,â€

Feds add worker protections to E-Verify

March 17th, 2010, 9:00 am
Dena Bunis, Washington Bureau Chief

Workers who believe their employer may have used the E-Verify system, designed to help business ensure they are hiring legal workers, to discriminate against them will have a way to complain, under some enhancements to the Web-based system federal officials announced on Wednesday.

‘Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has made three additions to the voluntary program: DHS signed an agreement with the Department of Justice to make it easier to investigate misuse and discrimination of the system; beginning April 5 a new hotline for employees will help them get information about E-Verify and the department has produced new training videos in English and Spanish that will explain the system to employers and their workers.
“The initiative announced today will provide essential information to workers about their rights and ensure that E-Verify is used fairly while bolstering the Department’s efforts to protect critical employment opportunities,â€

A true e-verify story…

Last year my youngest daughter applied for employment at the Army Experience Center. The position she applied for was the same one she held one year prior at the AEC, which she left to pursue other opportunities. Because of the time that lapsed since she last held the position, she had to re-apply as though she was a new hire.

The AEC ran her information through e-verify which came back with the notice that there was a discrepancy in her info that must be corrected before they could verify her eligibility for employment. The correction process involved:

1. A letter to the potential employer advising them of the discrepancy, with the instruction to inform the potential employee and respond as to whether the intent was to contest and correct the discrepancy, or to withdraw the application for employment.
2. Once the potential employee made the decision to pursue the matter, he/she is given a list of documentation to bring to the Social Security Office that would be needed to correct the discrepancy, which included the following:
Picture I.D., i.e. - driver’s license
Birth Certificate
Social Security card
Proof of legal residence

Within five minutes of arriving at the Social Security office with the required documentation, the discrepancy was resolved, and she was approved for employment. She had no problem “jumping through these hoopsâ€

Good! I hope they keep losing excuses to not implement it.