Thread: Electronic Barriers ..E-Verify

Electronic Barriers

While the nation squabbles over a border wall, technology could help cut off the supply of jobs to illegal immigrants

.Heather Mac Donald
December 13, 2018 Politics and law

Economy, finance, and budgets

Donald Trump was elected president because a large segment of the American public was fed up with the government’s failure to stop mass illegal immigration. Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S. drew an ecstatic response from his supporters, long scorned for their belief that the decision regarding who enters the country belongs to Americans, not to foreign nationals living outside the country. But the wall has not been built, and the fight over its funding has sucked political capital from the pursuit of other, and arguably better, means to deter illegal immigrants.
The most important of those measures is to prevent unauthorized aliens from getting work, since the jobs magnet is the primary lure for illegal immigration. Commentators and analysts across the political spectrum have acknowledged that preventing illegal employment is key to deterring illegal immigration. The New York Times editorialized in 1982 that “there can be no effective enforcement of the borders” without mandatory verification of a worker’s papers. A technology has existed for decades to do just that. E-Verify, run by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, allows employers to check—instantaneously and for free—whether the work documents presented by a potential employee correspond to an existing Social Security number or whether they are forged. Universal implementation of E-Verify has been blocked, however, by employers who prefer to hire illegal aliens over American workers.

Trump invoked E-Verify during the 2016 campaign but has since stopped publicly promoting it. Yet E-Verify is more popular with the public than the wall; at least two-thirds of poll respondents support mandatory verification of a worker’s lawful status. States that require it (Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah) have changed worker behavior. Illegal aliens dropped off the payrolls in Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina, prompting employers to hire legal workers, according to a 2013 study conducted with Bloomberg Government. A 2017 study by Carnegie Mellon University found that Arizona’s E-Verify law induced return migration from Arizona to Mexico and decreased illegal immigration into Arizona from Mexico. A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found that the population of less educated young Mexican and Central American immigrants dropped in states with mandatory E-Verify, in part because they moved to states without the mandate and in part because they returned to their home countries. Wages for low-skilled American and legal-immigrant workers in mandatory E-Verify states rose between 7 percent and 9 percent, while wages for illegal Mexican males dropped nearly 8 percent.

Yet enforcement is spotty. Only 2 percent of business in South Carolina were audited in 2017, and 17 percent of that sample were found not to be using the system. None of the scofflaws, however, were fined. The Cato Institute has alleged that only 59 percent of Arizona employers checked a worker’s documents against federal databases in 2017. For E-Verify to work to its fullest potential, it must be made universal and enforced, so that employers who use it are not put at a competitive disadvantage against employers who continue to use cheap (if often more reliable) illegal labor. The House Judiciary Committee has thrice passed a bill to mandate universal E-Verify. The most recent iteration, the Legal Workforce Act, sponsored by Lamar Smith and Ken Calvert and promoted by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, phases in the employer mandate gradually, starting with the largest businesses first. It gives agricultural companies 30 months to comply. Employers who use E-Verify in good faith cannot be penalized, even if they receive an incorrect eligibility verification. Though the Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the Smith-Calvert bill, the law has stalled, largely due to opposition from western agricultural interests.

E-Verify is not foolproof. It only catches phony work papers that are created out of whole cloth. If an illegal alien has acquired a valid but stolen identity, including Social Security number and driver’s license, he will pass the eligibility check. One study of employment data from 2008 found that half of all illegal workers who submitted papers for E-Verify were incorrectly found to be authorized for work. The reason for that false negative was the submission of stolen identities. Those false negatives represented 3 percent of all E-Verify submissions. Recent reports that Trump employed illegal aliens at a golf club skirted over the fact that the workers presented stolen documents to get their jobs. Nevertheless, while some illegal workers get through the system, many others are deterred from seeking a job.

E-Verify can be tightened up. The Citizenship and Immigration Service has developed a photo tool that compares the worker presenting work documents with the original photos in driver’s licenses, passports, and permanent resident cards. At present, the Social Security Administration does not inform victims of identity theft that their papers have been compromised; the Legal Workforce Act would require the SSA to notify a Social Security holder if his number has been used on numerous, mutually conflicting jobs, and it allows workers to lock in their Social Security number so that it can’t be used by anyone else. With such changes, E-Verify’s false positive rate could be considerably lowered.

Congressman Lamar Smith has estimated that illegal labor lowers Americans’ wages by $100 billion a year. That $100 billion may be good news for business owners and some consumers, but it hits low-skilled American workers hard. The cost in working-class stability adds to the existing burdens placed on local school systems, hospitals, and criminal justice agencies from a large influx of low-social-capital, low-skilled illegal migrants. The recent sight of Central American migrants storming the fence between Mexico and California is a reminder that a more extensive and better-policed wall is still needed. The asylum process must also be tightened up; asylum seekers should remain in Mexico while their cases are assessed for credibility. Birthright citizenship should end, and the law against immigrant welfare use must be enforced. But over the long run, preventing illegal aliens from taking jobs from Americans and lawful immigrants will be the best means of restoring control of U.S. borders and sovereignty.

If Trump wants to demolish the Democrats’ playbook, he should offer to switch federal funding in this round of budget talks from the wall to E-Verify. Doing so would force Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to go on record opposing a legal workforce.
https://www.city-journal.org/e-verif...al-immigration

No, E-Verify isn't what it's presented to be. E-Verify is a job and work related tracking system of American citizens by the US government. They store the information and share it across agencies. This is unacceptable and it's why Trump supports an employee verification program but does not support E-Verify for that system. They aren't supposed to save the data but now they do. BAD!!

Originally Posted by Judy

No, E-Verify isn't what it's presented to be. E-Verify is a job and work related tracking system of American citizens by the US government. They store the information and share it across agencies. This is unacceptable and it's why Trump supports an employee verification program but does not support E-Verify for that system. They aren't supposed to save the data but now they do. BAD!!

Trump has expressed support for E-verify. Nothing we do is 100%, nothing. E-verify is another tool in the box that will help in identifying illegal aliens.

And if e-verify is mandated. it must be for every size business, in every industry. Millions of illegals work for small landscaping and construction companies, who would be exempt from the current requirements. We desperately need interior enforcement at job sites throughout the country. Also, resume social security no match letters and hold employers accountable ! A wall, yet, but we need so much more!

Originally Posted by MW

Trump has expressed support for E-verify. Nothing we do is 100%, nothing. E-verify is another tool in the box that will help in identifying illegal aliens.

If that is the case, then I disagree with him on that. I support the old E-Verify not the new one where they store the data and all the information in one giant NSA type database and use it to track US citizens. I am 100% opposed to the new E-Verify that stores the information submitted to employers by applicants and employees that allows other agencies access to the data for other purposes, the same reason I opposed the REAL ID.

LABOR LAW NEWS

Mandatory E-Verify Included in Trump’s 2019 Budget Proposal




Published on February 27, 2018

On Feb. 19, 2018, President Donald Trump released his proposed 2019 fiscal year budget, beginning Oct. 1, 2018.

In his proposal, President Trump allocates $23 million to be invested in expanding the E-Verify program to mandatory nationwide use.

Since 1996, E-Verify has been voluntary for most employers. It also has become mandatory for federal contractors, certain state contractors, and employers that want to implement science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) when hiring foreign graduates of U.S. universities.

Although it is not currently required at a federal level, many states have laws that either require or encourage some employers to use E-Verify including:

• Arizona and Mississippi: Required (all employers)
• South Carolina: Encouraged (all employers)
• Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Utah: Required (public contractors)
• Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Utah: Required (state agencies)

What is E-Verify?

E-Verify is a system administered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Verification Division and the Social Security Administration.
The system itself is Internet-based and uses information from an employee’s I-9 form and Employment Eligibility Verification, the DHS and Department of State (DOS) records to confirm the employee is authorized to work the in the U.S.
GovDocs will be following this subject as it develops. Check back on this subject at Labor Law News – updates to come!

https://www.govdocs.com/mandatory-e-verify-included-trumps-2019-budget-proposal/

House immigration bill will not include mandate on checking employees' legal status

By Kate Irby and
Emily Cadei
June 26, 2018 05:24 PM,
Updated June 27, 2018 10:39 AM

An effort to mandate that every employer use a system to check that their employees are working in the country legally was rejected by House leaders Tuesday — a strong signal that those pushing immigration reform do not believe it has enough support to be passed as part of a comprehensive immigration bill.

The failure of the e-verify plan — which was eagerly sought by conservatives wary of the bill — means the House will instead vote on a plan that still includes a path to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers, people brought to the country illegally as children.

That plan, due for a vote as soon as Wednesday, would impose cuts in legal immigration and provide $25 billion for border security, including President Donald Trump's border wall.

Farm groups strongly opposed the defeated employee verification system. Those groups represent huge swaths of the Central Valley districts of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, and Rep. Jeff Denham, R-California, who have been leading immigration efforts in the House.

The now-defeated plan on e-verify, which was combined with a visa for agricultural workers, had mixed support among agricultural groups. All opposed e-verify, but the language of the agriculture worker visa appeased some groups. Others did not support it because it still include a so-called "touchback" provision, which would make currently undocumented workers leave the U.S. to apply.

Agriculture groups are highly influential in the districts of Denham and McCarthy. McCarthy is seen as safe in his district, but Denham, whose district was won by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016 and has a huge Hispanic population, is at risk.

Denham has pushed for a vote on immigration for months, even threatening leadership by joining with Democrats to get more moderate immigration legislation to a vote on the House floor. Denham was part of the group that ultimately decided to not allow the e-verify provision to proceed to a floor vote.

Republican leadership, including McCarthy, agreed to broker a deal between Republicans pushing immigration reform, such as Denham, and more conservative members in the House Freedom Caucus, which has about three dozen members. They were looking to subvert the effort that included Democrats.

After weeks of wrangling, it's still unclear if the full immigration bill has the votes to pass. The vote was delayed twice last week as it became obvious it would not appeal to enough Republicans to pass. The GOP controls 235 of the House's 435 seats.

The vast majority of Democrats, if not the entire 193-member caucus, are expected to vote against it.

Denham originally said e-verify would not be included in the bill, because he said he wanted to keep it as narrowly focused as possible. But then he reversed by allowing it to be considered after further negotiations with leadership and the Freedom Caucus, signaling he was open to such a provision if it meant the bill could achieve enough votes to pass.

The defeated plan would have required within the next two years that all businesses verify their employees could work legally in the U.S. In return, it offered the agricultural worker visa — many farm workers in the U.S. are known to be undocumented — but would only allow those farm workers already working in the U.S. to apply for the visa after briefly leaving the country.

The agricultural industry lobbied hard against the inclusion of e-verify, saying it is already struggling with a worker shortage and the proposal would exacerbate the problem. Farm groups have only signaled widespread support for an agricultural worker visa that allowed current undocumented workers to apply without having to return to their home countries.

Republicans in Congress are unlikely to support a provision under those terms, which many equate to amnesty.

Correction: A former version of this story said undocumented immigrants currently working in the country illegally would not have been eligible for the agricultural worker visa in the defeated provision. They would have been eligible after leaving the U.S. briefly, commonly referred to as a "touchback."

Kate Irby: 202-383-6071; @KateIrby

Read more here: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/pol...#storylink=cpy

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/pol...213791734.html

Nothing surprising about illegal alien amnesty supporters not supporting E-verify.

Farmers need to automate. ICE needs to do more raids. Jail the employers and fine them! 3rd time caught...revoke their business license. Taxpayer FOOT the bill for their cheap labor. NO more!!

Cut off the freebies to illegals aliens now.