E-Verify up and running

An estimated 150,000 companies have signed on to use E-Verify as of Sept. 15, the mandatory program for federal contractors to verify the legal status of workers, according to an article Wednesday in nextgov.com.

Federal contractors awarded contracts after Sept. 8 are required to use the E-Verify system to check if employees working on a new project are legally eligible to work in the United States. The system checks workers' Social Security numbers and immigration statuses against Social Security Administration and DHS databases.

Bill Wright, spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Services, which manages the system, said that the system expects to process 9 million queries in fiscal 2009. He added that the system has been set to handle as many as 60 million queries annually, but thinks that reports of a possible surge in queries were overstated. Contractors have 120 days from the time they sign up to verify employees, meaning the requests are spread out over a three-month period.

The system is simplified with electronic help. Companies log on to a web-based portal and sign up. Then a company manager inputs the employee's data and waits for verification that the person is a citizen. Most queries are answered within 24 hours.

E-Verify is opposed by civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU's legislative counsel, Chris Calabrese, said the requirement is "another roadblock to gainful employment for U.S. workers" and added that the error rate is unacceptably high.

For more on E-Verify:
- see this nextgov.com article

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