Jim Gilchrist – MMP Exclusive – There’s no question that the reason so many people sneak into the U.S. illegally is to find work. So if we want to get serious about controlling illegal immigration, it must start with employers who hire them.
By law, companies are required to employ only individuals who may legally work in the United States – either U.S. citizens or foreign citizens – who have the necessary authorization.
The way to weed out those who do not have authorization to work here is to make the use of E-Verify mandatory, instead of just voluntary. This would go a long way toward discouraging illegal entry into our country. This is why amnesty activists hate E-Verify and will do anything to stop it.
Proponents of amnesty and a path for citizenship for the nation’s 11 million illegal aliens have continuously denounced E-Verify as inaccurate, difficult to use, and costly – especially for small businesses already burdened with government paperwork.
As if on cue, here comes a poll by Reason-Rupe, which purports to show Americans oppose E-Verify if costs are considered. Among the survey’s more ludicrous findings:
“Even a majority of those who fear immigration’s impact would oppose E-Verify if its costs fell upon employers and small business owners. In fact, among the 27 percent of Americans who favor deportation of all unauthorized immigrants, support for E-Verify drops from 88 percent to 33 percent once these costs are considered.”
Except for one thing… There are no costs for using E-Verify!
The official E-Verify website describes the service as:
“E-Verify is an Internet-based system that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States. E-Verify is fast, free and easy to use – and it’s the best way employers can ensure a legal workforce.”
So how can Reason-Rupe, with a straight face, get away with implying there is a cost to E-Verify, as much as $150 per database query?
Reason-Rupe references a report from Bloomberg dated January 27, 2011: ‘Free’ E-Verify May Cost Small Business $2.6 Billion, in which the costs are explained as follows:
“Employers have to spend money on training or staff time. Some use private firms, such as Lawlogix, Fragomen and other immigration-law firms, which specialize in employment eligibility.”
But the same report went on to say that a survey of employers, conducted for the Department of Homeland Security by the research firm Westat Inc., found that most reported no costs to use E-Verify. The system relies on citizenship data that employers must collect anyway on an I-9 employment form. More than 73 percent of employers reported no direct set-up costs, and slightly more reported no maintenance costs, according to the survey.
Okay, 73 percent of employers reported no direct set-up costs. That would imply 27 percent of employers did have direct set-up costs. This is a very significant number of firms. So what is required to participate in E-Verify?
OMG – a computer with Internet access, a browser, a printer! Are there actually any businesses that can get along without these basics?
Could the cost be in the form of staff time consumed in E-Verify training? Not really…
Once logged into the system, the employer fills in a bunch of fields like they do for purchasing goods online from Amazon. The E-Verify system guides the person through a series of questions, which follow Form I-9.
If E-Verify cannot initially match the information, the employer will be prompted to review and correct the information. Otherwise, E-Verify will display an initial response within three to five seconds.
Another criticism of E-Verify is that it is inaccurate and, therefore, should not be used.
USCIS continually monitors the performance of the system. In 2012, it found that 98.65 percent of employees were automatically confirmed as authorized to work, either instantly or within 24 hours.
Only 1.35 percent of employees received initial system mismatches. Of those, 0.26 percent were confirmed as work authorized after contesting and resolving an initial mismatch. The remaining 1.09 percent of cases were terminated by the employer or simply not contested, probably for good reason, such as presentation of forged documents.
Advocates of amnesty and citizenship for illegal aliens will go to great lengths to portray any remedy to illegal immigration as too expensive, too burdensome, or too impractical to be implemented, as if the law-abiding among us should just give up and go with the flow.
Dream on!
