The latest “flavor of the week”The Secure America Through Verification and Enforcement Act (SAVE Act) is a federal immigration enforcement bill. It relies upon the electronic employment verification (EEVS), which Department of Homeland Security (DHS), calls it. “E-Verify.”
EEVS is simple. The I-9 form proves that employees are authorized to work in America. This information is entered by the employer into a computer that searches the Social Security Administration and DHS databases. The employee can work if the information is in line with the database. The employee can fix the problem with SSA in a very short time. If they don’t, they will be fired.
The SAVE Act would make it mandatory for all 7.4 million employers in the country to sign up for an EEVS program. E-Verify currently is used by 55,000 employers. This makes up less than 1 percent. The E-Verify program would be a mess if it added more than 7,000,000 employers.
U.S. citizens will be negatively affected. E-Verify employees who are not confirmed by E-Verify are often eligible to work. It could be due to a name or immigration status change, or data entry errors. These discrepancies are estimated to be in 17.8 million records by SSA, with an error rate of 4.1 percentage.
E-Verify is a tool for discrimination: According to state policy, 47 per cent of employers using E-Verify entered employees’ information prior to the employee’s first workday, instead of after they were hired, as required under law.
Fearing the potential fines and inconveniences associated with non confirmation notices, these employers racially profile prospective employees in order to avoid hiring people who are not of their native country. “pass”The E-Verify test. Some encourage non-confirmation recipients to ignore them. Others use the non-confirmation status as an opportunity to force workers to work longer hours in poorer working conditions.
E-Verify has not yet reached its prime. Neither the DHS or SSA databases are accurate enough to allow for an electronic mandatory employment verification system that functions fairly and efficiently. Instead of enacting new harsh laws, “enforcement only”Congress should not use measures like the SAVE Act to stop Congress from enacting sensible, practical immigration reform that protects both employers and employees.
Visit The American Immigration Lawyers Association for more information www.aila.org.
