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Federal E-Verify

Overview

In the fall of 2008, Pres. George W. Bush signed an executive order requiring all businesses contracting with the federal government to screen new hires using E-Verify. The workplace verification tool administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services verifies an employee's identity with federal data. Independent studies show E-Verify to confirm 96% of all cases.

Pres. Bush later delayed the mandatory usage of E-Verify while legal objections were getting resolved. It has been delayed two more times under Pres. Barack Obama.

Rep. Heath Shuler's SAVE Act requires the mandatory nationwide use of E-Verify for all private and public employers.

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Update

E-Verify Passes House in Stimulus Bill

Updated Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 8:00 PM EST - posted on NumbersUSA

The House passed its version of the stimulus package tonight, which included provisions requiring the use of E-Verify to ensure that all new jobs go to citizens and legal immigrants. The Senate has yet to pass its version, so there is still an opportunity to add E-Verify by amendment. Rep. Ken Calvert of California and Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia led the house effort.

 

 

Representatives Calvert and Kingston

Representatives Calvert and Kingston

Rep. Calvert's amendment calls for a five year extension for E-Verify, which is currently set to expire in March.

"If the stimulus package creates millions of jobs, which the Majority party is claiming, I want to be absolutely sure that those jobs are going to American workers or legal residents, not illegal aliens," said Rep. Calvert through a press release. "While I am opposed to the stimulus package as a whole, I felt it was necessary to improve the legislation in the limited ways allowed by the Majority Party. Extending the authorization for E-Verify ensures that employers will continue to have the only tool available to them to check the work authorization status of new employees."

Rep. Kingston's amendment requires that any jobs created under the stimulus plan be verified through E-Verify.

“We’ve got a federal program on our hands that actually works. It’s ninety-nine percent effective. I can’t think of a single federal program with that success rate. Only in Washington would it make sense to let it die,” Congressman Kingston said.

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In the News

Sen. Jeff Sessions will replace Arlen Specter on judiciary committee

Quoted - Tuesday, May 5, 2009

He's a major proponent of E-Verify, the voluntary government program that allows employers to certify whether prospective workers are legally authorized to work in the United States. During the debate over the federal stimulus bill in February, Sessions led a failed bid to add amendments that would have forced federal contractors receiving stimulus funds to use the E-Verify program.

"Now we have the No. 1 champion for the American workers on immigration issues being the ranking member," said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, an immigration-reduction advocacy group.

By James Oliphant -- Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-court-sessions5-2009may05,0,3065504.story

HR Group Hails E-Verify Extension as Steppingstone to Something Better

In the News - Thursday, October 22, 2009

An organization that has criticized a government-run electronic employment verification system hailed Senate approval of a bill that would keep it operating for three more years.

By Mark Schoeff Jr -- Workforce.com

http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/26/74/70.php

Panel recommends improvements to E-Verify

In the News - Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The need for E-Verify to determine legal eligibility to work in the United States has been rising, and will continue to grow as the Obama administration proposes reforms to cope with an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently in the U.S., the panel said.

However, the system is flawed. It sometimes falsely deems a legitimate employee ineligible to work, and identity thieves using stolen Social Security numbers and other documents can fool the system into clearing them.

By Alice Lipowicz - Washington Technology

http://fcw.com/Articles/2009/10/07/Report-recommends-improvements-to-EVerify.aspx?Page=1

Momentum builds in Congress for mandatory worker verification

In the News - Monday, August 3, 2009

Momentum appears to be growing for legislation that would require all employers, not just federal contractors, to use the E-Verify system to confirm that their employees are eligible to work in the United States.

E-Verify is a Web-based system that allows employers to check the Social Security and visa numbers submitted by workers against government databases. More than 137,000 employers now use the system, which approves 97 percent of workers in a few seconds.

By Kent Hoover - Triangle (Raleigh, N.C.) Business Journal

http://triangle.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2009/08/03/daily8.html

E-Verify does work, is needed

In the News - Wednesday, July 29, 2009

We have a situation where foreign lawbreakers were taking 25 jobs from legal Americans, not to mention they were in contact with food and possibly never vaccinated for illnesses and/or received medical attention for certain ailments. Unfortunately, even more incidents like this one have proven this is not an isolated event, but a nationwide problem.

A recent federal investigation found that 1,600 of the 4,500 employees at factories in Los Angeles for the clothing company American Apparel got their jobs using “suspect and not valid” eligibility documentation. American Apparel is the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States. For a company that prides itself on clothes “Made in the U.S.A.,” it seems their clothes are not made by legal U.S. citizens.

By Rep. Courtney Combs -- Middletown (Ohio) Journal

http://www.middletownjournal.com/opinion/columnists/courtney-combs-e-verify-does-work-is-needed-226801.html

E-Verify works

In the News - Tuesday, July 28, 2009

New statistics on E-Verify suggest that keeping illegal aliens out of U.S. jobs is a goal increasingly within reach.

The Center for Immigration Studies has made available updated Department of Homeland Security numbers that make plain the effectiveness and growing use of the federal electronic system, through which employers can distinguish illegal aliens from legitimate job applicants.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_635539.html

Immigration legislation has merit

In the News - Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Rep. Heath Shuler has again introduced the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement Act to combat the costly dilemma of illegal immigration in the U.S.


Since President Obama and this Congress are unlikely to achieve anything bigger, Congress should pass Shuler's bill.

Blue Ridge (Hendersonville, N.C.) Times-Union Editorial

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20090728/ARTICLES/907281005/1016/OPINION02?Title=Immigration-legislation-has-merit

Senate Resists Changes on Immigration

In the News - Friday, July 10, 2009

A series of Senate floor votes this week seeking to toughen immigration enforcement is giving the Obama administration its first real taste of the chilly climate for overhauling immigration laws.

On Thursday, the Senate approved a measure that would effectively overturn an immigration-enforcement decision announced one day earlier by the Obama administration. The Department of Homeland Security had said Wednesday that it would rescind a Bush administration program aimed at forcing employers to fire workers who are unable to resolve discrepancies in their Social Security records.

By Cam Simpson - Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124718283357420277.html

Carcieri commends Obama's support of E-Verify

In the News - Thursday, July 9, 2009

Governor Carcieri, who has led the charge in Rhode Island to crack down on illegal immigration, applauded the Obama administration Thursday afternoon for mandating that federal contractors confirm the immigration status of employees. The program goes into effect in September.

It was Carcieri who in 2008 signed an executive order that in part required state agencies and vendors to use the federal E-Verify program to ensure that new hires are allowed to work in the U.S.

By Cynthia Needham -- Providence Journal

http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/07/carcieri-commen.html

Secretary Napolitano Strengthens Employment Verification with Administration's Commitment to E-Verify

In the News - Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today strengthened employment eligibility verification by announcing the Administration’s support for a regulation that will award federal contracts only to employers who use E-Verify to check employee work authorization. The declaration came as Secretary Napolitano announced the Department's intention to rescind the Social Security No-Match Rule, which has never been implemented and has been blocked by court order, in favor of the more modern and effective E-Verify system.

DHS Release

http://www.dhs.gov/ynews/releases/pr_1247063976814.shtm

Employer use of federal E-Verify program on the rise

In the News - Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The voluntary federal program has seen a rapid growth in use this year, Department of Homeland Security records show. More than 1,000 employers are signing up each week on average, and employment checks are approaching 200,000 a week.

By William M. Welch -- USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-23-everify_N.htm