Chattanooga Times-Free Press
Perla Trevizo

E-Verify working smoothly

Nearly two months after most federal contractors and subcontractors were required to use the government’s employment verification program, local employers report things are running smoothly. — “We’ve been using E-Verify since the new rules went into effect Sept. 8, (and) so far we’ve not experienced any adverse financial or administrative issues…”

READ MORE HERE

Did you note how Georgia Chamber of Commerce president and CEO George Israel invents problems with E-Verify?

See HERE for the truth:
How accurate is E-Verify?

E-Verify has proven to be over 99% accurate for all employees ultimately authorized to work. A government investigation of E-Verify in 2007 found 93% of employees queried through the system were verified within 5 seconds. Another 1.2% of employees were verified within 24 hours with no additional action required of either the employee or the employer. Most of the 5.8% of employees who received a tentative non-confirmation requiring more time turned out to be illegal aliens. Only 0.5% of the employees who were U.S. citizens or authorized foreign workers had to contact the Social Security Administration because of errors in the database. Overall, the 2007 study found that the accuracy rate of E-Verify was 99.5%. For the 0.5% who had to contact the SSA, many of the errors were ones that the workers themselves had made, such as a woman not notifying SSA of a change in her last name after a marriage. In addition, an independent study between April and June of 2008 by Westat found 96% of employees were verified instantly, 0.4% had to contact the government to resolve record errors, and 3.5% received final non-confirmations, meaning they were illegal aliens not having the legal right to work.

BY THE NUMBERS ( Thanks to the Chattanooga Times Free Press for a very balanced news article)

* 160,951: Total employers participating in the Employment Eligibility Verification Program (E-Verify).

* 622,673: Total sites participating in the E-Verify.

* 574,381: Employment verification queries in fiscal year 2010.

* 8.5 million: Employment verification queries in fiscal year 2009.

* 6.6 million: Employment verification queries in fiscal year 2008.

* Note: Information is as of Oct. 17

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

CLOSER TO HOME

Number of employers participating in E-Verify*:

Tennessee: 2,084

Chattanooga: 138

Georgia: 10,162

Dalton: 137

*Note: Information for Tennessee is as of Oct. 2009 and as of Sept. 2009.

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

FEDERAL RULE

* Companies awarded a contract with the E-Verify clause are required to enroll in E-Verify within 30 days of the contract award date.

* E-Verify must be used to confirm that all hires, whether employed on a federal contract or not, and existing employees directly working on these contracts are legally authorized to work in the United States.

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services – from Chattanooga Times/Free Press