E-Verify

E-Verify is currently a voluntary program run by the United States government to help certify that employees hired by companies are legally authorized to work in the United States. Formerly known as the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program, the program is operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration.

The program was set to expire in November 2008. The expiration period reflects uncertainty in Congress about the accuracy and collateral consequences of the verification program. New rules promulgated by the Department of Homeland Security presume that this program remains in effect for the foreseeable future. On September 30, 2008, President George W. Bush signed a continuing resolution (H.R. 2638) that would, among other things, extend the E-Verify program until March 6, 2009 with $100 million in funding.

History

The program was originally established in 1997 as the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program along with two other programs created prevent illegal aliens from getting jobs. The others were discontinued, and E-Verify has grown to a total of 2.9 million requests in 2007. According to experts, more than 10 percent of all new hires in the first two months of 2008 were checked by E-Verify. As of September 2008, there were 85,816 employers using E-Verify representing over 446,000 jobsites and over 6.21 million queries processed. Approximately 1 in 8 new hires nationwide is now checked by E-Verify. It is estimated that by the end of 2009, use of E-Verify will have grown 442 percent since 2007.

Operations

The program is free. As of August 31, 2007, the program has begun to include biometric data to help enhance searches. The 14 million images kept by federal immigration authorities are being used in the program, and the government is in talks with some states to cross reference with state drivers license records.

As of September 2007, most of the United States federal government did not use the system when hiring employees, but a new directive mandates that they use the system starting October 1, 2007. On June 6, 2008, President George W. Bush signed an amendment to Executive Order 12989 requiring that more than 200,000 federal contractors to use E-Verify. More than 22,000 companies have registered. Guidelines are being drafted to deal with companies that repeatedly hire illegal immigrants. About 5 percent of queries are identified as "not authorized to work". Every month, over 2,000 companies join the program. A 2008 Center for Immigration Studies Backgrounder says that the E-Verify system is 99.5 percent accurate.

On July 7, 2008 an amendment to FY 2009 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill, that would extend the program past November 30, 2008 expiration date failed to pass House Appropriations Committee

Marketing and advertising

Currently, DHS is funding a year long marketing campaign for E-Verify in both traditional and online media. The online campaign is being managed by Sapient. This online campaign consists of display and paid search.

The state of Arizona requires employers to participate in E-Verify: the Legal Arizona Workers Act has survived a number of constitutional challenges and is currently in effect. The former Governor of Illinois, Rod R. Blagojevich, signed a law that forbids companies in Illinois from using the service. The Department of Homeland Security is suing them in federal court to overturn this law. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff negotiated an agreement with the State of Illinois that employers in Illinois could continue to use the program while the suit moves forward.

In 2007, DHS proposed a "no-match" regulation specifying "safe harbor" procedures for an employer to follow in response to notification that an employee's Social Security number is invalid. A federal district court in California blocked the proposed regulation from taking effect. As of early March 2008, the DHS is revising the regulation. The state of Georgia is also considering making compliance mandatory.

The program has also been called inaccurate, though the error rate, currently around 8 percent, is decreasing, as many of the errors came from changing last names after marriage, or not informing the government they were now citizens. An anti-immigration activist group called NumbersUSA is creating a service to track which companies join and which do not to build pressure on non-participating companies to join.

President George W. Bush proposed in his 2009 Federal Budget $100 million for E-Verify, specifically for "expansion and enhancement" of the system.

E-Verify required for OPT extension for F-1 foreign students

In April 2008, U.S. Government extended the duration of post-completion work authorization (the "Optional Practical Training" (OPT)) from 12 months to 29 months for certain qualifying foreign students with completed U.S. degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In all circumstances, foreign students are only eligible for this extension if their employer participates in the E-verify program. As of 2009, many employers do not participate in E-Verify. Foreign students working for those employers are only given 12 months of OPT, even if they would otherwise qualify for the extension.

An alternative temporary work authorization used by college graduates sponsored by U.S. employers is the H-1B visa. This H1B visa, however, is capped annually at 65,000 new petitions. This limit is insufficient to meet demand. In the past two years, the demand has been so great that the Citizenship and Immigration Service established an H1B lottery to randomly select the H1B petitions to fit into the quota. The unpredictability of the lottery has made it difficult for businesses to hire foreign temporary professional workers. The OPT extension is often the only practical way to avoid the lottery. However, employers only qualify for the extension if they use E-verify for all new hires, including U.S. Citizens. In choosing between the benefits of OPT extension and the necessity to use E-verify for all new hires, most employers have so far opted against E-verify.

Mandated use

As of September 8, 2009, employers with federal contracts or subcontracts that contain the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) E-Verify clause are required to use E-Verify to determine the employment eligibility of 1) Employees performing direct, substantial work under those federal contracts and 2) New hires organization wide-regardless of whether they are working on a federal contract. A federal contractor or subcontractor who has a contract with the FAR E-Verify clause also has the option to verify the company's entire workforce. According to the DHS website, about 175,000 employers now use E-Verify.

State laws

There are several state laws regarding the requirement and prohibition of E-Verify for employers.

Arizona

The Legal Arizona Workers Act requires all Arizona employers to use E-verify with all newly hired employees, effective January 1, 2008. As of December 2008, 5.6 percent of Arizona businesses had signed up with E-verify.

Georgia

Georgia requires all public employers and government contractors to use E-Verify to verify the work authorization of their newly hired employees.

Illinois

Section 12(a) of the Illinois Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act prohibits Illinois employers from using E-verify to verify the work authorization of their employees, due to the inaccuracy rate of E-verify. The United States Department of Homeland Security sued to prevent the law from taking effect as scheduled on January 1, 2008. The state of Illinois has agreed not to enforce the law until the lawsuit has been resolved.

Mississippi

The Mississippi Employment Protection Act requires all Mississippi employers to use E-verify with new hires. Mississippi employers with 250 or more employees must comply with the law as of July 1, 2008. The law goes into effect for employers with 100 to 249 employees as of July 1, 2009. Employers with 30 to 99 employees must comply by July 1, 2010. The law is effective for employers with fewer than 30 employees on July 1, 2011.

Rhode Island

Rhode Island is considering requiring applicants for state contracts, state vendors, and state grant recipients to use E-verify with its new employees.

South Carolina

South Carolina public employers and public contractors employing more than 500 people to electronically check and verify the employment eligibility of new employees, effective January 1, 2009.

External links

• E-Verify Website
• List of companies under E-Verify
• EPIC Spotlight on Surveillance article Electronic Privacy Information Center. An article describing defects, problems, and dangers of the E-Verify system and its use.