Friday, July 8, 2011

Are more employers using e-verify? Does this mean it is working?


Are more employers using e-verify? Does this mean it is working?
More employers turning to the federal program they hope will help them avoid hiring illegal immigrants. By Franco Ordoñez fordonez@charlotteobserver.com Posted: Wednesday, May. 13, 2009 Mandi Bickes of ResourceMFG interviews a client. The company has enrolled in E-Verify. T. ORTEGA GAINES – OGAINES@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COM More Information This Land: Which companies are checking? A worn red, white and blue sign taped to the front door of ResourceMFG warns potential hires that the recruiter uses a federal program to root out illegal immigrants. Branch manager Tamara Mantooth put the sign up about two months ago when she noticed that nearly half the company's applicants presented questionable IDs. “It was interesting,” she said. “After we put the sign up, some people would come up to the door, look at the sign and then turn away.” Her company is one of a growing number in North Carolina and across the country enrolling in E-Verify, a once-obscure program run by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. Critics say it's a flawed and expensive program that doesn't deter illegal immigration. But as the Obama administration warns that it will focus on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, N.C. firms are choosing the free and voluntary program in record numbers. In the past two years, the number of enrolled N.C. companies has increased by more than 700percent to 2,567. Local participants include Bank of America, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, and the Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge. Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, made more than 6,000 workplace arrests; 135 were employers and managers. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a Senate hearing last week that ICE can do better. “Active enforcement of our immigration laws must address not just the illegal workers themselves,” she said, “but also the employers who hire illegal labor and fuel the phenomenon of illegal immigration into the United States.” Worried about raids Gilberto Bergman, president of Bergman Brothers Staffing of Charlotte, says companies can no longer claim they didn't know they hired workers using fake IDs. He said companies are using E-Verify to protect themselves in the event of raids or investigations. Bergman cited an October raid of an N.C.-based House of Raeford Farms plant in Greenville, S.C. More than 300 workers were detained. The plant manager, the human resource manager and about a dozen supervisors were arrested on immigration charges.“When you actually hear that they're going to go ahead and prosecute, take to court the people who actually did the hiring, that's a big concern for HR people,” he said. “Employers are paying a lot more attention to who they are hiring, especially here in the Carolinas,” A 2006 Observer investigation found illegal immigrants working for major N.C. road-building companies using Social Security numbers that were fake, stolen or belonging to dead people. Using payroll records from contractors, including Rea Contracting of Charlotte, the newspaper found questionable Social Security numbers for a third of 85 workers. Rea is now using E-Verify, according to ICE. Advocates, critics E-Verify was first tested in 1997 so employers could compare employment forms to Social Security and immigration records. Participation nationally has been expanding at a rate of about 1,000 new employers a week, Napolitano said. More than 122,000 employers are enrolled, nearly five times more than in 2007. Last year, President Bush signed an order requiring companies that do business with the federal government to use E-Verify. South Carolina, Arizona and Mississippi require all employers to use E-Verify, according to the National Immigration Law Center. North Carolina passed a law in 2006 requiring that all state employees, including those at universities, be vetted by E-Verify. Opponents claim the program does not effectively reduce illegal immigrants. The Immigration Policy Center, a pro-immigrant research group, says E-Verify ensnares American job seekers in database errors, adds to employers' costs and “does not actually prevent undocumented immigrants from getting jobs.” The Congressional Budget Office estimated that expanding the federal verification program could cost $17billion over the next 10 years. But Napolitano endorses E-Verify, saying ICE has fixed many of its shortcomings. Mantooth said using the program is a business advantage. Companies don't want to risk paying for expensive training only to find out the worker is in the country illegally. “I don't understand why anyone would not take advantage of this,” she said. “We don't want a reputation as a company that would place workers who were not eligible to work in the United States.” http://www.charlotteobserver.com/597/story/721012.html _________________
Immigration - 7 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
this is great news. my uncle and his family live in N.C he sid it was imposable to find a job because of the illegals. i was going to move there until he told me this. and becareful what you type. people are reporting again.
2 :
NO! the employers of coarse have cover their butts now that Obama announced that he wants to crack down on employers. We won't hear complaining until US Citizens are denied the jobs because of the flawed system, or even worst put on an immigration hold. It wont' be long till we hear about the first one. Employers are using it, but what has been fixed since the last standard test? http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2007/11/26/report-everify-database-fails-standard-test.aspx Report: E-verify database fails standard test The E-Verify program uses a database that does not meet accuracy standards set by Congress, according to a new report from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. "Most importantly, the database used for verification is still not sufficiently up to date to meet the [Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996] requirement for accurate verification, especially for naturalized citizens," the report said.
3 :
A few months back an I.C.E. Raid apprehended a large group of illegals working in some plant. They detained them and later released them only to return to work with temporary work status and documentation in hands. As long as events such as that take place, it doesn't matter if e-verify is working or not. Just as people like you and I are adamantly opposed to available work going to illegal immigrants, there is an equally sized group of Americans, organizations and employers who have no problem with it. Had parents continued as in my day to raise children with values and strong work ethics, instead of ones with socially dependent entitlement mentalities, this problem wouldn't be so out of control. Nowadays kids expect to go directly from high school into a $30,000 a year career position. Hardly anyone is willing to begin at the bottom. Most all find themselves above it. The provided links outline there's as much a problem with opposing views as there is a problem with illegal immigration. http://www.wyff4.com/news/17641906/detai... http://neighbors.denverpost.com/viewtopi...
4 :
I have not researched this in detail but from the limited literature I have read, it seems to be working or at least in the right direction.
5 :
They used it on me. Of course - I also had to show my original birth certificate.
6 :
Pro lawbreakers don't like the system because it works. The program has a 96% accuracy rate.Several local employers said E-Verify was quick and efficient. Stronghold Engineering, a government contractor in Riverside that does construction projects for the Defense Department, started using E-Verify about a year ago to check the employment status of new hires. "You always want to make sure you are hiring someone who is authorized to work in the United States," said human resources manager Angela Rayfield. "This program is very user-friendly." Employment service AppleOne Inc., which places workers at a variety of businesses, started using E-Verify at all of its California branches in 2007. Human resources manager Linda Madigan said it shifted the burden of validating documents from the company to the government. "The E-Verify program is one of the best things we did," Madigan said. "The [branches] don't have to look at the documents anymore and decide if it looks right or not." At AppleOne's downtown Los Angeles branch on a recent day, office coordinator Mayela Solorio ran an applicant's personal information through the system and within seconds received a response from the government: "Employment Authorized." "He's good to go," she said.
7 :
With the latest figures being a 98% accuracy rate it just works. Add in the fact that the majority of false negative results are due to the actions of the employees themselves (mainly failure to file the paperwork that gives them the right to work in the US) and time is given to correct the problem we have a good system in place! TONY: that study was done in 2007 and was throw out after such things as the rejection of dead people and 6 year olds was found to be the largest percentage of people rejected! In this country dead people are NOT allowed to work! And 6 year olds will have to prove they can.
Posted by Edume.info at 6:14 AM

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