Remember that E-Verify is a program that matches social security numbers within the system. The system has not been worked out well and this could mean that because of errors, many workers could lose their jobs. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is fighting it.
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from National Immigration Law Center
The House Appropriations Committee made a serious mistake when it approved an amendment to the stimulus bill (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) that would require all businesses and other public or private "entities" that contract to receive money from the stimulus package to use the flawed federal Basic Pilot/E-Verify program. This will not only delay use of stimulus funds, but will hurt millions of workers. It should be stripped from the bill.
The amendment represents a massive expansion of the E-Verify program. As has been well documented, the E-Verify program is deeply flawed, inaccurate, and subject to substantial employer abuse. Bottom line - it is not ready for a massive expansion and definitely not in times of economic crisis.
The E-Verify provision in the stimulus will:
• Harm workers who are either falsely denied work or are targeted by employers abusing the E-verify program;
• Create substantial new burdens for businesses, especially small businesses, at precisely the wrong time;
• Send the wrong signal to new voters that the Congress prefers to play politics by enacting symbolic and ineffective immigration "enforcement" measures over serious and effective economic stimulus or serious immigration reform.
Stimulus E-Verify TPs - Final
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December 23, 2008
U.S. Chamber: E-Verify Expansion Is Illegal
@ 3:39 pm by Walter Alarkon
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is suing the federal government to stop its expansion of a program that seeks to verify whether employees are legally allowed to work in the country.
The Chamber, a business-friendly group that has opposed measures expelling illegal immigrant workers, said that the Bush administration has unlawfully used an executive order to require federal contractors and sub-contractors to use the Department of Homeland Security's E-Verify program. The Chamber group said that the executive order discards federal immigration and procurement laws.
"This massive expansion of E-Verify is not only bad policy, it’s unlawful," said Robin Conrad, executive vice president for the Chamber's public policy law firm.
The executive order would make the E-Verify program mandatory for federal contractors with projects that cost more than $100,000 and for sub-contractors with projects that cost more than $3,000
http://briefingroom.thehill.com/2008/12/23/us-chamber-e-verify-expansion-is-illegal/
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1 comment:
I work for an organization that helps immigrant workers recover stolen wages from their employers, and we see this happen all the time. An employer will hire a worker, they will have worked for a few days or weeks, then the employer will run the social security number and if there's no match, they'll let go of the worker without pay. When we confront them about this, their excuse is that the worker didn't have a proper social security number. But who gets off with free labor? This is just one example of the employer abuses afforded by the E-verify system.
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