Senate approves E-Verify expansion

The Senate passed an amendment last week that would allow employers to verify the work eligibility of existing employees, not just new hires.

The measure, included in the fiscal 2010 Homeland Security spending bill, would require all workers at companies that use E-Verify to present government-issued photo ID to employers, and encourage employers to use the system to confirm that their employees are legally allowed to work in the United States. Currently, employers voluntarily use the E-Verify system for new hires; federal agencies are required to use the program, which checks employees' Social Security numbers against a government database to determine their immigration status.

The Senate last week also approved an amendment in the DHS appropriations package that would make permanent the E-Verify program, which is set to expire this year. Also last week, the Homeland Security Department announced that by Sept. 8, federal contractors would have to start using the electronic employment verification system.

"Employers across the country want to abide by the rule of law and hire people who are legally in this country. E-Verify is an effective and inexpensive tool to easily allow employers the opportunity to check the work status of their employees," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who sponsored the amendment expanding the program to existing employees.

Pro-business groups have said the contractor requirement will increase costs and delays for companies looking to fill job openings. Immigration advocates including labor unions and the American Civil Liberties Union have opposed E-Verify because of what they say is the program's unacceptably high error rate. An official with DHS' Citizenship and Immigration Services, which runs the program, told Nextgov.com in June that 96.1 percent of candidates are approved immediately. Of the remaining 3.9 percent, 0.4 percent successfully contest their eligibility status, and 3.5 percent are not authorized for work.

"[E-Verify] relies heavily on government databases with high error rates, error rates involving U.S. citizens," said Joanne Lin, legislative counsel at ACLU focusing on immigration. "Any expansion or promotion of the program without ensuring it first meets an acceptable accuracy standard is problematic for U.S. workers."

Lin said the Grassley amendment is dicey because as many as 11 million U.S. workers do not have birth certificates or passports, which makes it difficult for them to obtain government-issued IDs. Because the measure only passed in the Senate version of the bill, Lin said her organization will urge lawmakers to strip out the clause during the conference process between the two chambers. She declined to define what the ACLU would deem an "acceptable accuracy standard."

"When you talk about errors with databases, even if it's a small percentage, you extrapolate that out [to the U.S. job market] and even a small percentage would mean several million workers," Lin said.

A Homeland Security spokesman said the system is accurate and can handle 10 times the current volume of inquiries it receives, enough to support the mandatory program for agencies and soon, contractors.

Several lawmakers also released statements supporting the program's expansion to existing employees.

"It's no secret that I, like many of my House colleagues, are strong supporters of E-Verify because of its high success rate and effectiveness in ensuring that jobs go to legal workers," said Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky. "As we proceed to conference negotiations later this year, my colleagues and I will be carefully reviewing all of the Senate's amendments on this important legislation."