5/11/2009

Mr. Michael Aytes, Acting Deputy Director of USCIS Testifies: "Priorities Enforcing Immigration Law". The testimony is focused on the importance of E-Verify Program, its progress and improvement, and need for legislative support for the program. E-Verify Program has been a hot political botton between the government and immigration advocates, including U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

The Current E-Verify System: Past Program Enhancements

Under USCIS management and in cooperation with SSA, E-Verify is continuing to work to improve processes to decrease mismatch rates, ensure that E-Verify is fast and easy to use, and protects employees’ rights. FY 2008 improvements to the E-Verify program included instituting a system change to reduce typographical errors, incorporating a photo screening tool for DHS documents in order to combat certain instances of document fraud, establishing a Monitoring and Compliance Branch to oversee that employers are using E-Verify correctly, and adding new databases that are automatically checked by the system to further reduce initial mismatches. In addition, E-Verify established a new process for employees to call a USCIS toll-free number to address citizenship mismatches as an alternative to visiting SSA. All these efforts are targeted at establishing efficient and effective verification. 

E-Verify is the most accurate and efficient way to verify employment authorization.

In September 2007, E-Verify instituted an additional automatic flag to the user that allows employers to double-check the data they entered into the system for those queries that are about to result in a mismatch. This has reduced data entry errors and thus initial mismatches by approximately 30 percent. 

The 2007 Westat Corporation independent evaluation found that a large portion of the employees who successfully contest an SSA TNC are recently naturalized citizens. As of May 2008, the number of these citizenship mismatches has been reduced by approximately 39 percent, a considerable reduction, as we have reworked the system so that it now automatically checks USCIS naturalization data before issuing a citizenship status mismatch. In addition, employees who receive a mismatch with SSA due to citizenship are now able to contact USCIS via a toll-free number to contest the finding, address the discrepancy, and verify their work authorization. This process has reduced walk-ins to SSA field offices for E-Verify citizenship mismatches by 56 percent. Of those individuals who call USCIS to address a mismatch based on citizenship status, over 90 percent are successfully resolved by USCIS as work authorized. USCIS and SSA are also exploring further enhancements, including a direct data share initiative that would update SSA’s database with naturalized citizen information. 

E-Verify also added the Integrated Border Inspection System (IBIS) real time arrival and departure information for non-citizens to its databases as of May 2008, which reduced E-Verify mismatches that had resulted from delays in data entry into the system that E-Verify also uses for non-citizen arrival information. The addition of this data to the E-Verify system is reducing hundreds of mismatches that occur for newly arriving workers who enter the country legally and start working immediately.

In December 2008, DHS signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of State (DOS) to share passport data and photographs from the DOS’ records. In February 2009, USCIS began incorporating passport data into E-Verify in order to check citizenship status information in the event of a mismatch with SSA. Passport data is reducing the number of mismatches issued to naturalized and derivative citizens (citizens who did not personally complete the naturalization process, but derived citizenship from their parents) who present a U.S. passport during the Form I-9 process, which involves the new hire filling out a form attesting to their work authorization eligibility and presenting the requisite documents. To date, over 295 queries that would have received TNCs under the previous procedures have been automatically verified as employment authorized as a result of this enhancement.

Although not every mismatch can be prevented by adding additional data sources, we continue to improve the system to ensure that every mismatch that can be prevented through government data processes will be avoided. We believe E-Verify is an efficient and easy system for employers to use and we continually strive to understand the needs of our stakeholders.

According to the 2007 independent Westat evaluation of E-Verify, “[m]ost employers found the Web Basic Pilot (E-Verify) to be an effective and reliable tool for employment verification” and 96 percent strongly disagreed that E-Verify was a burden. 

Ultimately, E-Verify’s continuing success and development relies on increased awareness and public use of the program and more education of US citizens and work authorized immigrants about their rights when using the system. In an effort to better understand the needs of those using the program, USCIS substantially increased customer service and outreach staff over the past two years to ensure that questions and issue are addressed quickly and professionally. 

In FY 2008, an outreach campaign was launched aimed at educating millions of employers about their responsibilities in using E-Verify. In addition to conducting hundreds of presentations, demonstrations, and webinars, we also held informational seminars for the public in Arizona, Georgia, Mississippi, and the metro DC area, and conducted 239 outreach events in 24 states. Most of these events were held at the request of both employer and employee associations. E-Verify also has a toll-free call center that handles approximately 2,000 calls per week.

The program launched radio, print, billboard, and internet advertisements aimed at increasing awareness about E-Verify. In addition, given that the majority of businesses in America are small businesses, USCIS collaborated with the Small Business Administration (SBA) to include E-Verify information on the SBA’s website and we are identifying additional ways E-Verify information can be incorporated into SBA program activities.

Employees are also key stakeholders of E-Verify. USCIS has bilingual English and Spanish advertising and has online materials in nine languages to inform employees of their rights. E-Verify has collaborated with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to prepare bilingual English and Spanish videos for employers and employees to teach them about E-Verify and their rights, roles and responsibilities.

E-Verify is committed to maintaining the integrity of the system and effectively preventing discrimination and misuse through monitoring and compliance.

A successful and effective electronic work authorization verification program is critical to ensuring that employers have the necessary tools to ensure their work force is authorized to work in the United States. To be effective, however, the program also must include robust tools to detect and deter employer and employee fraud and misuse. USCIS first contracted an independent review of E-Verify in June 1998 with the first evaluation of the program published on January 29, 2002 by Temple University and Westat. USCIS has continued this process to ensure third party review of ongoing operations as well as evaluation of new capabilities and improvements.

The 2007 independent Westat evaluation found “substantial” non-compliance by employers with program rules. While the evaluation found that employer compliance with program procedures is improving, it also identified methods by which some E-Verify employers may be using the program incorrectly. Failure to follow E-Verify procedures can result in discrimination and reduce the effectiveness of the program. USCIS is dedicated to reducing E-Verify misuse through employer training, educational outreach, print and electronic resources, and our monitoring and compliance program. Indeed, we believe that a measured expansion of the program can only occur after we address the critical issue of employer misuse.

USCIS established a Monitoring and Compliance Branch dedicated to monitoring the use of the E-Verify system and providing compliance assistance. The Monitoring and Compliance Branch aims to safeguard personal privacy information, prevent the fraudulent use of counterfeit documents, and refer instances of fraud, discrimination, misuse and illegal or unauthorized use of the system to enforcement authorities. The Branch currently reviews E-Verify transaction data to detect and deter employer misuse, fraud and discriminatory practices, and offers compliance assistance to help employers use the system correctly. This approach will be further supported by data analysis and case management provided by a Case Tracking and Management System (CTMS) that will be launched later this spring. E-Verify has instituted procedures to refer cases of non-compliance to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices (OSC). USCIS recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with ICE establishing guidelines for referrals and sharing of information.

To safeguard employee privacy, E-Verify has established an internal Privacy Branch to ensure that program policies, practices, and procedures comply with the Privacy Act, promote transparency within the program, conduct Privacy Threshold Analyses (PTAs), Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs), and develop System of Records Notices (SORNs) for system and programmatic enhancements. E-Verify’s Privacy Branch’s mission is to protect the civil rights and personal information of employees who are subject to employment verification by E-Verify.