Sorting out the fact from fiction in electronic employment verification systems

The House Judiciary Committee oversaw a hearing on electronic employment verification systems and the safeguards needed to protect privacy and prevent misuse within them. Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) presided over the hearing, while Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.), and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) served as the primary witnesses. Both Lofgren and Conyers wanted a thorough explanation of the E-Verify system and the New Employee Verification Act (NEVA), sorting out the fact from the fiction.

Conyers said that the main purpose of the hearing was to figure out a way to improve the E-Verify system. E-Verify was created as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 in order to verify the employment eligibility of both U.S. citizens and noncitizens at no charge to the employer. Calvert and Shuler highlighted the benefits of using E-Verify. Calvert said that all employers are required to check all potential new employees, inversely protecting everyone from discrimination. Shuler explained the high performance rate, saying that out of 1,000 employees 942 would be cleared automatically, 53 would be correctly mismatched, and the remaining five would successfully fight their mismatch. This gave the system an error rate of only half a percent.

Johnson and Giffords argued the flaws of E-Verify and explained the benefits of NEVA. Johnson said that in order to create an effective, secure, and reliable system, the system must prohibit unlawful employment, protect workers, partner with employers, reduce the risk of identity theft, and protect Social Security. Giffords agreed with him and said that NEVA fulfills each of these guidelines making it the best alternative to the E-Verify system. She stressed that if Congress does nothing to improve the system, “we will have failed.”