IMMIGRATION UPDATE – E-Verify

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is currently attempting to convince Congress to make E-Verify, the voluntary Internet-based employment verification system, mandatory for all employers in the United States.

COMMENTARY

E-VERIFY:

What is E-Verify? E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows an employer, using information reported on an employee’s Form I-9, to determine the eligibility of that employee to work in the United States. For most employers, the use of E-Verify is voluntary and limited to determining the employment eligibility of new hires only. There is no charge to employers to use E-Verify. The E-Verify system is operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration.

Agencies across the federal government as of September 8, 2009, started ordering all federal contractors to use E-Verify to verify whether their employees are eligible to work in the U.S. [Source: Wall Street Journal]

E-Verify, the often-criticized electronic system for checking workers’ immigration status, is apparently here to stay. President Obama’s chief of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Alejandro Majorkas, defended the system on September 16, 2009, as the government continues to expand its use.

E-Verify is mandatory for employers in some states, including Mississippi and Arizona.
The system has its critics. Among the criticisms are the following:
1. The system may or may not be able to handle a surge in queries, especially if more private employers are required to use it.
2. Employers are required to notify individuals who receive a tentative non-confirmation. The employee has eight federal working days to contact SSA to correct their records.
Eight days is a small window to correct any discrepancies. The employer would have the burden to make these corrections.
3. According to nextgov.com, about .03 per cent of the “tentative nonconfirmation” results contest the determination successfully. This would yield 24,000 erroneous results annually, a figure deemed too high by critics.

The question becomes, will E-Verify become mandatory for private employers? This is an issue employers need to monitor. The 2010 appropriations bill provides $5.4 billion to fund DHS’s employment verification activities.

The present E-Verify system may become even more advanced. Senator Schumer (D-NY) has stated repeatedly that E-Verify does not “go far enough” and made clear in several occasions that he favors a hi-tech employment verification system which employs biometric identifiers such as fingerprints, eye scans, and more. Similarly, Secretary Napolitano, who believes E-Verify is a “smart, simple and effective tool” has also made clear, in agreement with Sen. Schumer that “we need to continue to work to improve E-Verify, and we will.”

USCIS also recently redesigned its website. Hector A. Chichoni has an excellent theory that one of the purposes of the redesign was to provide a more powerful platform to handle a surge in E-Verify related queries. [See: Miami Herald]

Sincerely,

Law Office of John M. Manley