U.S.IMMIGRATION POLICIES
Understanding the e-Verify system
SHEELA MURTHY
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Designed to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants, the e-Verify programme could lead to racial profiling and privacy threats. The second of a two-part series.
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e-Verify is compulsory if employers wish to take advantage of the 17-month OPT extension.
As outlined in the earlier article, we spoke of the F1 OPT rules and the benefit of the 17-month OPT extension for certain STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics) students who had completed the 12 months of OPT after studying at an U.
S. educational institution. The controversial issue of e-Verify is a requirement for a U.S. employer wishing to take advantage and file for the 17-month extension for their F1 OPT employee. Here, we discuss the details of the e-Verify system since many Indian companies setting up operations in the U.S. wish to hire F1 OPT students and like to sponsor H1Bs and “green cards” for their Indian employees working in the U.S.
E-Verify is a “voluntary” programme implemented by the USCIS, designed to prevent employers from hiring undocumented (or illegal) immigrants. Advocates of e-Verify believe the programme helps prevent undocumented workers from seeking employment illegally and reduces pressure to physically protect the U.S. border.
The USCIS uses databases from the Social Security Administration (SSA) and DHS to confirm employees’ information as listed on the Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9) Form. If the databases do not confirm the information, the employee is given eight federal work days to resolve the mismatch.
Critics claim e-Verify will promote racial profiling among employers — there is concern some employers will avoid hiring people who appear to be foreign in order to avoid the hassles associated with e-Verify. Some also believe employers could blackmail undocumented immigrants by making them work for sub par wages so the employer will not report them to the USCIS.
Built-in disparity
The system also encourages disparate treatment in the American workforce. Foreign-born workers (including naturalised citizens) are 30 times more likely than native-born Americans to be incorrectly identified as unauthorised. According to USCIS, employers should not treat employees with an e-Verify issue adversely, pending a final resolution.
The biggest concern over e-Verify is the accuracy of the system. The SSA estimates that about 4.1 per cent of its data contains errors — this translates to about 17.8 million incorrect or incomplete records. Based on this error rate, if e-Verify became mandatory, up to six million legal authorised workers, including U.S. citizens, would be “non-confirmed” and will be forced to jump through administrative hurdles to prove their right to work in the U.S. This could result in legal, permanent residents and U.S. citizens losing jobs and not being able to support their families while issues are being resolved!
DHS Assistant Secretary of Policy, Stewart Baker views e-Verify differently: Citing a 1000-person study conducted by an independent research group, 942 e-Verify queries were automatically verified, five had mismatched information that needed further resolution and 53 employees were not confirmed and did not attempt to resolve the mismatch. Baker argues that those 53 employees whose information did not match were likely undocumented workers since they did not attempt to resolve the mismatched data but this conclusion was not verified in the study. In fact, some employers simply do not hire a person who does not come back as confirmed under the e-Verify system, creating potential problems for the legal rights of those who are affected.
Opponents of e-Verify also question its capacity to handle widespread inquiries. The Congress is debating the SAVE Act (Secure America through Verification and Enforcement) which would require all of America’s six million employers to use e-Verify. Currently, only about 60,000 employers are registered — that’s only one per cent of American employers. If e-Verify became more pervasive, many believe it would impose an unmanageable strain on the system.
It is not clear exactly how many inquires e-Verify can actually handle. DHS claims the system can manage up to 25 million inquires per year. Based on that number, if all six million employers were required to use the system, DHS could only handle four inquiries per employer every year.
Running costs
Another issue with e-Verify is cost. Some analysts claim an accurate e-Verify system requires a national identification system. Aside from the obvious privacy concerns, some estimates indicate a national ID program would cost taxpayers roughly $20 billion per year. According to USCIS estimates, a mandatory e-Verify program without a national ID plan would still cost between $765 million and $838 million for fiscal years 2009 through 2013. President Bush included $100 million in the 2009 budget to expand e-Verify.
There are also privacy concerns over the use of DHS databases in the e-Verify program. The DHS has failed to comply with federal information security standards since its creation in November 2002 and the increased e-Verify traffic creates serious concern over cyber-threats. Anyone posing as an employer can gain access to e-Verify since DHS does not screen users. Identity fraud will be a major threat for people seeking employment if e-Verify becomes mandatory.
But Secretary Baker says the system can handle 240 million queries per year. That’s 10 times more than DHS indicated in an August 2007 Press Release. This assertion — made in May 2008 — is based on “recent load testing” that Mr. Baker does not explain further. Secretary Baker also asserts “software changes” recently implemented to automate some of the correction processes with records will cut the number of mismatch issues in half.
Gaining momentum
Despite the ongoing debate over e-Verify’s infrastructure, this “voluntary” programme is gaining momentum. Not only does USCIS require registration for employers to take advantage of F1 OPT extension, all federal agencies are required to use the system for their own hiring. Many States require State contractors to use e-Verify to confirm authorised work status. State laws in Mississippi and Arizona require e-Verify to ensure newly hired employees are permitted to work. South Carolina recently passed a State law requiring businesses to use e-Verify that imposes a $1,000 fine per worker for failure to verify an employee’s status. Soon, federal government contractors will also be required to use e-Verify. About 2,000 employers are registering for e-Verify every month.
The shortcomings of e-Verify is a by-product of larger inadequacies created by America’s inability to properly and fairly deal with undocumented workers. E-Verify futilely attempts to cope with and enforce a lawful employment standard that does not take into account the millions of undocumented workers that are performing vital jobs in America today — jobs that Americans in general will not perform.
Without a more comprehensive immigration solution for the millions of undocumented workers already in America, e-Verify may ultimately drive more workers underground to prevent more wages from being taxed by the federal government.
The bottom line is, even if e-Verify operated at 100 per cent efficiency, it does not effectively address the root causes and consequences of illegal immigration. Ultimately, this parsed method of dealing with legal employment may actually intensify and underscore the existing problem of America’s dependence on undocumented foreign workers.
Even though the e-Verify program may have significant flaws, it is still required if employers and students on F1 status pursuing a STEM degree wish to take advantage of the 17-month OPT extension. Students interested in changing to H1B status should find out whether a prospective employer is registered with the programme. Many U.S. employers will likely feel hostage to being forced to register under e-Verify simply to hire F1 OPT students in a STEM area due to a shortage of skilled high tech workers. And that seems to suit the U.S. government well since they have found one set of employers who will be forced to register under e-Verify simply to avoid the lesser of the two evils.
(Concluded)
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