Placentia,CA. weighs using E-verify for legal status checks

Placentia weighs using E-verify for legal status checks

By RIGOBERTO HERNANDEZ
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

PLACENTIA – The City Council took steps Tuesday night to possibly join a federal program that would verify if a new city employee or contract worker can legally work in the United States.

If the council does move forward, the city would enroll in E-verify. Companies applying for contracts above $50,000 would be required to run their new employees through the program.

The council is expected to discuss the issue during its next council meeting March 29.

"Especially nowadays with unemployment extremely high," Councilman Chad Wanke said, "it's extremely important that we as policy makers protect those who live in the United States legally."

E-verify determines the eligibility of an employee to work in the United States. It does so by comparing information from an employee's I-9 employment eligibility form to information on a database of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.

At least 11 Orange County cities use the program; four joined last year.

Mariana Gitomer, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokeswoman, said there has been an increase in employers signing up for the program, which launched in 2004. In Placentia, 32 companies have enrolled.

The program does have flaws.

A report by Placentia city staffers, presented to the council in the last week, says that E-verify has been known to mistakenly determine an employee's status.

Also, the process would absorb time from city staffers and could cause legal problems: The program cannot be used as pre-employment screening or to re-verify current employees, the report says, so the eligibility status could surface after a person was hired.

"It's not a perfect system, but it's the best we got right now," Wanke said. "The more municipalities and employers that use it, (the more it) will force the federal government to fix the kinks out of it and actually improve the system."

City Attorney Andrew Arczynski said that companies are required already to present their employees' documentation to the city and other agencies, and any irregularities would surface. Further, employers are motivated to ensure their employees can work here legally.

"The contractor is putting his or her license on the line," the city attorney said. "If they get caught, they are going to have a lot of problems, not the least of which is losing their contract."

Wanke said he doesn't buy that position, because some employers actually benefit financially from hiring those in the country illegally.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/city ... uncil.html