Audio clip
Michele Waslin
Despite concerns from business groups and immigrant advocates about a government Web-based employment verification program, a growing number of local companies are using it.
Since the voluntary program E-Verify was offered to employers in 2004, almost 4,000 Georgia companies and more than 800 businesses in Tennessee have signed up to participate in the federal program, including 50 employers in Chattanooga and 96 in Dalton, Ga.
The E-Verify program is a voluntary, Internet-based program established to allow employers to verify workers’ employment eligibility electronically with the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.
“We have been using E-Verify without any real problems for three years,” said Kary Klein, owner of the temporary hiring firm SmartHire in Chattanooga. “I could see the trend coming, and I think eventually most employers are going to have to use it. We want to be a leader in our industry, so we began using E-Verify very early.”
Jessica Jones, an employee at SmartHire, said the computer check of new hires is quick and easy.
PDF: New Employment Verification Act
HOW DOES IT WORK?
* Within three days of hiring an employee, the participating employer is required to enter information such as the employee’s name, date of birth, Social Security number and citizenship status into E-Verify. Within seconds, the employer receives a response.
* If there’s a tentative nonconfirmation or “mismatch,” the employer must notify the employee and give him or her the opportunity to contest that finding.
* If the employee chooses to contest the “mismatch,” he or she has eight business days to visit a Social Security Administration office with the required documents to prove identity.
* Until the “mismatch” is resolved, the employee must be allowed to keep working and cannot be fired or have any other employment-related action taken against him or her.
Source: United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
But a proposal from the Bush administration in June to require all companies doing business with the federal government to use E-Verify has drawn fire from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce and the Immigration Police Center, among others.
Cost concerns
Critics contend E-Verify could prove costly, especially when workers are hired and then later have to be dismissed if the worker’s status isn’t verified.
Randel Johnson, a vice president for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said requiring all federal contractors to participate in E-Verify “raises many unnecessary practical problems which will make ever more complex an already overly complicated federal procurement system.”
D.A. King, president of the anti-immigration group known as the Dustin Inman Society in Marietta, Ga., dismisses such criticism.
“This program not only ought to be renewed by the Congress, but it ought to be mandated for all employers,” he said. “Every employer should be happy to comply with the law and be sure that they have hired lawful workers.”
Mr. King said E-Verify is essential for compliance of public employers and state contractors under laws in Georgia and some other states.
Growing use
Arizona and Mississippi have laws requiring all employers in the state to use E-Verify, and Georgia, Minnesota, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Utah require some employers to use the program.
The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act, which went into effect last year, requires employers that have state contracts to use E-Verify. The law now requires E-Verify usage only for state contractors with 100 or more employees, but after July 1, 2009, it will include all state contractors.
Critics argue E-Verify is a flawed system that has high error rates and could have great consequences for legal workers and U.S. citizens.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration databases have errors, said Michele Waslin, senior policy analyst with the Immigration Policy Center, a research institution dedicated to studying the contributions immigrants have made to America.
“Sometimes if (the employer) doesn’t get a confirmation back, they don’t tell the person,” Dr. Waslin said. “In some cases they just fire the person without giving them the chance to fix that problem. There is certainly a possibility of discrimination and misusing the system.”
In a December 2006 report, the inspector general of the Social Security Administration estimated that 17.8 million, or 4.1 percent, of the agency’s 435 million individual records contained discrepancies that could result in a no-match letter being sent to a legally authorized worker. Of those records with errors, 12.7 million belonged to native-born Americans, records show.
If these error rates were not fixed before a mandatory Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification System was implemented, they could result in a minimum of 11,000 workers per day being flagged as ineligible for employment, according to the Cato Institute, a nonprofit public policy research foundation in Washington, D.C.
Officials with local personnel agencies using the system for new hires say they are not experiencing such problems.
“It’s been very easy for us to work with and quite user friendly,” said David Crisp, vice president for Olsten Staffing Services in Chattanooga. “Once the word gets out that you are using the system, very few people come to you who might have a problem with their immigration status.”
Staff writer Dave Flessner contributed to this story.
Perla Trevizo joined the Chattanooga Times Free Press in 2007 and covers immigration/diversity issues and higher education. She holds a master’s degree in newswire journalism from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Texas. In 2011 she participated in the Bringing Home the World international reporting fellowship program sponsored by the International Center for Journalists, producing a series on Guatemalan immigrants for which she ...
The use of the well functioning E-Verify will reduce crime of all types and most importantly, protect our population both citizens and immigrants. To the illegal aliens and unscrupulous employers who are bellyaching... hire legal or ante up for some fine and time.
WOO HOO! The so called reporter would like people to believe this is an unpopular move, but that's not true! LEGAL citizens are pleased to read this.
"To the illegal aliens and unscrupulous employers who are bellyaching... hire legal or ante up for some fine and time." PERFECT! The only whiners are the illegals and the employers who benefit from hiring them! Oh yeah, and probably the ACLU and LaRaza... notoriously Anti American organizations who "profess" to speak for us.
"In a December 2006 report, ...." Get with the "program" Ms. Trevizo. Just last month it was reported there is only a 1% - 3% error rate! Anyone who can't produce valid documents needs to stay unemployed! How hard is it to find YOUR birth certificate? Just someone else who is most likely profiting from illegal invaders. Oh yea, newspapers need such articles to boost sales.
IT'S TIME TO PUT A STOP TO THIS ILLEGAL INVASION NIGHTMARE!
CHUCK BALDWIN-www.baldwin2008.com. “There will be no “path to citizenship” given to any illegal alien. That means no amnesty. Not in any shape, manner, or form. I would not allow tax dollars to be used to pay for illegal aliens’ education, social services, or medical care. As President, I would end birthright citizenship for illegal aliens. There would be no “anchor babies” during my administration.’ “A Baldwin Administration will support our U.S. Border Patrol, not with meaningless words, but with action. And I guarantee you this: The day before my inauguration as President will be the last day the that Mr. Ramos and Mr. Campean will have to spend in prison. They will be released from prison on the first day that I that I am President and be returned to their jobs with the US Border Patrol if they still want them. Their persecution by the Bush Administration has been a disgrace and a nightmare for these gentlemen and their families. The nightmare ends the day I become President!”
<p>www.numbersusa.com -fax congress free! www.alipac.us www.fairus.org www.capwiz.com/caps/home/ -fax congress free!. The legality of the so-called "anchor baby" is defined in the Constitution itself; it is called a "natural born citizen" and is automatically and irrevocably granted citizenship.
It takes an Amendment to the Constitution ratified by two-thirds of the States to change that little item, not a Presidential edict.
Not that I like the "Anchor Baby" thing...but there it is. They are natural-born citizens just like the rest of us born here.
E-Verify is a good thing.
Pity these comments so badly criticize the TimesFreePress reporting. They virtually guarantee its removal from this forum no later than tomorrow morn, possibly this afternoon.
Stories of the new VW plant remain here forever [which is a good thing] but anything else showing opposition to illegal aliens has a one-day half-life.
[Will VW be required to use E-Verify to ensure only legal workers are hired?? Or will they voluntarily use it??]
08/15/2008 - Currently, 62 local enforcement agencies spanning the nation have signed MOAs with ICE and now more than 840 officers have been trained to enforce immigration law.
DHS By The Numbers
80,000 employers enrolled in e-Verify
5.37 million employees checked using e-Verify
THERE WILL BE NO AMNESTY!!!
OUR ACCEPTABLE IMMIGRATION REFORM
1. Secure the Border!!!
2. Mandate E-Verify for ALL Employees!!!
3. Mandate E-Verify for ANY Benefit!!!
4. Stop the Underground Economy!!!
5. End Birthright Citizenship for Illegals!!!
......and make it retroactive!!!
6. End Chain Migration!!!
7. Make English our Official Language!!!
8. Cut Off Federal Funds to Sanctuary Cities!!
NOTHING MORE!!! NOTHING LESS!!!
Southwest Border Patrol Sector Apprehensions Fiscal Year-------------2005---------2006---------2007-------2008 (ends 9/30) San Diego------------126,879-----142,104---- 152,460--- 135,683 El Centro--------------55,725-------61,465----- 55,883----- 35,018 Yuma-----------------138,492-----118,549----- 37,992------ 7,621 * Tucson --------------439,053-----392,074---- 378,239--- 281,207 El Paso---------------122,624-----122,256----- 75,464----- 27,100 Marfa ------------------10,532--------7,520------- 5,536------ 4,699 Del Rio -----------------68,547------42,636----- 22,920----- 17,994 Laredo -----------------75,268------74,840----- 56,714------37,850 Rio Grande Valley --134,136----110,528------ 73,430----- 64,549 Apprehensions----1,189,108--1,071,972-----858,638----611,721(07/31)
http://www.capsweb.org/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=7
This reporter does not hide her own ideas very well....we are guessing that she donates to La Raza.
I am a long time Dustin Inman Society supporter. We are not "anti-immigration" as this hack writes, but rather pro border security and anti-ILLEGAL immigration. D.A. King has done a fine job of making this very understandable on the DIS Website ( WWW.THEDUSTININMANSOCIETY.ORG )
The slant here is all too obvious in the first paragraph when we read about "immigrant advocates" who are against use of the E-Verify program. Yeah..."immigrant advocates", the same people who brought us the marches for amnesty and the ACLU/La Raza/MALDEF opposition to any enforcement of our immigration laws.
I may be ill after reading this muck. Does this Trevizo person have an editor who is professional and/or awake?
I can't wait to see what D.A. writes to these characters.
Ms. Trevizo: You have written an overall well-balanced piece; you presented both sides of this contentious issue with little bias. This is quite unusual in today's Mainstream Media and is a fresh breath of air.
Whether we agree with the points of your article or not, you have done a great job in informing us of the ups and downs of the E-Verify system. You have given us enough information to speed further research if any are so inclined. Thank you.
I look forward to continuing balanced updates of your report on this topic. Obviously there is high interest here...
E Verify is a must to begin to weed out illegal aliens that are taking jobs that belong to American citizens and those who enter legally to the United States. They are lowering wages and burdening our institutions such as hospitals and schools. Any tool that will help to remove illegal aliens from our work force is a welcome addition to the laws already on the books.
Ask your City Council and County Commission to use E Verify. Ask them to use SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) to screen against illegal aliens accessing services and benefits that they are not entitled to receive. There is a photo option to check for fake documents available.
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