Fed's Immigration Database Slow To Take Hold Locally
829 Bay State companies are using E-Verify program to check new hires

By Eileen Kennedy
Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer

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Only 1,744 companies in New England — 829 in Massachusetts — are using the federal government’s free, web-based program to check the immigration status of employees.

Its low use flies in the face of the federal government’s determination to reduce illegal immigrant labor, as mandated by the federal Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

But the program does have some troubling implications, at least according to one local lawyer. Attorney Kirk Carter, who directs the immigration practice at Fletcher, Tilton & Whipple, said immigration practice lawyers and some of the employers they represent are wary of the E-Verify system.

“The problem is that it’s an imperfect system with a lot of glitches. We know that the government is moving quickly toward this system, but people who are authorized to work may be designated as unauthorized through faulty information,â€