Thread: Use of E-VERIFY database for ID checks hits some bumps

Use of federal database for ID checks hits some bumps

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano strongly supports using E-Verify to confirm employees' identities. As governor of Arizona, she signed a law requiring all employers in the state to use E-Verify.

By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY

States are increasingly cracking down on illegal immigration by requiring companies to check their employees against a controversial Homeland Security Department database.

The state effort has sparked protests from businesses, immigrant advocates and civil libertarians, which say the checks could inaccurately flag legal residents as illegal immigrants. Companies typically have done the checks themselves by reviewing workers' documents, such as passports.

Since 2006, 12 states have started requiring employers to enter new workers' names into the system, which checks immigration databases.

About 107,000 of the USA's 7.4 million employers use the system, called E-Verify, up from 11,000 in 2006, the Homeland Security Department says.

The state efforts come as Congress has failed to revise outdated immigration laws, said Tyler Moran of the National Immigration Law Center. E-Verify requirements "are one of the most popular measures to introduce in states right now," Moran said.

Among the problems that have been identified with E-Verify, according to a report commissioned by the Homeland Security Department:

• The system gives preliminary rejections to workers who should be approved, particularly non-U.S. citizens. Only 0.1% of U.S.-born workers received false rejection notices between 2004 and 2007. The rate for foreign-born workers was 3%.

"The result is increased discrimination against foreign-born employees," the report says.

• Some employers fail to tell workers they were rejected, making them miss a chance to appeal. Others use E-Verify illegally by checking job applicants. Checks must be done after someone starts working. Workers have eight days to appeal a preliminary rejection and cannot be fired in that time.

• E-Verify does not keep people from using fraudulent IDs to get work authorization.

Intel Corp., one of the largest U.S. employers, found that 12% of its 1,360 workers hired between January and July 2008 were initially rejected. Intel challenged the 143 rejections and all of the workers were found to be legal U.S. residents, the company said in a letter to the federal government.

"The system still has a number of flaws," said Angelo Amador, immigration policy director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber and other business groups sued Homeland Security in December to block a proposal that would require 170,000 federal contractors to use E-Verify. Lawsuits also are pending against state measures in Arizona, Oklahoma and Rhode Island.

Howard McMillan, head of verification for Homeland Security's Citizenship and Immigration Services, said E-Verify databases and verification procedures have been improved and have reduced errors.

Employers using E-Verify are protected against prosecution for hiring illegal workers, but some don't follow the rules. "It's an education problem that causes employers to misuse or abuse the system," McMillan said. More education is planned.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has ordered a review.

"I'm a strong supporter of E-Verify," Napolitano said last week. "You have to deal with the demand side for illegal immigration as well as the supply side, and E-Verify is an important part of that."

Efforts to expand E-Verify could present the Obama administration with its first test on immigration. The $819 billion stimulus package passed by the House last week requires any company getting stimulus funds to use E-Verify.

"With the current recession, it should be legal immigrants and American citizens getting those jobs," said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., who wrote the E-Verify provision.

The report found that with so few employers using E-Verify, it is less effective because people can get jobs with companies that don't use the system. The report also said that most employers found E-Verify "to be an effective and reliable tool."

The White House is reviewing the proposed E-Verify requirement, spokesman Nick Shapiro said. Homeland Security is studying whether the requirement would slow stimulus disbursements.

As Arizona's governor, Napolitano signed a 2007 law requiring all employers in the state to use E-Verify. A federal appeals court upheld the law in June. That could encourage states to enact similar laws, said University of California-Davis law professor Kevin Johnson.
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Most new systems have bugs in them. Hopefully they can get the bugs out quickly.

"'With the current recession, it should be legal immigrants and American citizens getting those jobs," said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., who wrote the E-Verify provision."

It is discouraging that even our allies in Congress list legal immigrants before American citizens as those who should be getting American jobs.

And nothing is or will be 100% perfect.....so those caught up in the system in the negative will have to go dwon to the social security office and fix the problem....how hard is that!

Oh I know wouldn't want to put a few people out WELL TOUGH!! it is our best chance at reversing illegal immigration!

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Most new systems have bugs in them. Hopefully they can get the bugs out quickly.

It can't be any worse than the "illegal bugs" are for our nation and it's people, can it?