USCIS Introduces “My E-Verify”: The key to fixing a broken E-Verify?
E-Verify has a fatal flaw: it is not very good at identifying individuals using false documentation. USCIS’s own study, published in 2012, revealed that E-Verify incorrectly verified individuals using false documentation over half of the time. With the October 6, 2014 rollout of “my E-Verify”, USCIS enlists the help of employees to improve utility and accuracy of E-Verify
E-Verify Isn’t What Employers Believed They Were Getting
Obviously the results of the 2012 study were distressing to USCIS as well as employers who voluntarily elected to participate in E-Verify and take on the additional compliance burdens believing that they could then rest assured that their employees are all work authorized. It is widely believed that any broad immigration reform would also include a requirement for all employers to use E-verify. This would be a tough pill for employers to swallow as they expose themselves to additional compliance burdens, and the risk of government investigations initiated based solely on data trends from their entries into the system, for a system that won’t catch an unauthorized worker half of the time.
USCIS Has Continued to Look For Ways to Improve Accuracy
Last year, USCIS announced that they were introducing measures to improve E-Verify’s accuracy, which included “locking down” social security numbers that, based on data trends, may be being used fraudulently. Of course, anyone who has ever applied for credit, only to find data anomalies in their social security records, would attest to how hard it is to correctly “lock down” a number. Then there are the issues of what to do when a social security number is improperly “locked down” and it takes far longer than 8 days to resolve the issue.
Could Identity Verification Questions Help?
USCIS could use a series of questions regarding one’s history to verify the identity of an individual, similar to the online credit or health care application where they ask you to indicate “at which of the following addressed you have resided” and “which of the following vehicles have you owned” etc.… However, these types of questions pull from databases that only relate to U.S. based information. Such a system would not work at all for foreign nationals who are newly arrived to the U.S.
My E-Verify Improves Utility by Allowing Individuals to Set Their Identity Verification Questions
On October 6, 2014, USCIS announced that they are rolling out an employee portal called “my E-Verify”. This system is an enhancement to the old Self –Check function as individuals can not only check the status of their employment eligibility information, but they can lock their social security number to keep anyone else from using it (for E-Verify). In my E-Verify, they can set up security questions, similar to the credit application verification questions we discussed above, but setting these personally is sure to improve accuracy.
Will Voluntary Use of This Have an Impact?
The use of my E-Verify is one way in which USCIS can improve the accuracy of the system, however, how many individuals will actually take the time to do it? In April 2014, a USCIS presentation indicated that over about 406,000 self check transactions had occurred since its inception in March of 2011. That’s about 102,000 transactions per year. However, over 500,000 employers participate in E-verify. This means that each year, maybe 1 new employee for every 5 employers would use the system. A mid sized employer with 1000 employees and turnover of 10% will be hiring 100 new employees each year. If maybe they are lucky enough to be the 1 in 5 employers and 1 of their new employees uses my E-Verify, will it impact the accuracy of E-Verify?
The new I-9 is error prone because the process is already too long, and too cumbersome. Adding another process (my E-Verify), to help ensure that another added process (E-Verify) actually adds value seems like an excess if inefficiency. Unless use of my E-verify becomes mandatory when /if E-Verify does, it may be a new feature that has great potential but no impact on results due to lack of use. For all of USCIS’ efforts, the foundation, the Employment Eligibility Process itself, is what is at fault. If an employer participates in E-Verify, encouraging individuals, perhaps in their offer letters, to set up their accounts in my E-Verify is a practice that has merit. Employers who do not, and are not required to participate in E-Verify should do so with an abundance of caution and understand that the easy enrollment exposes them to additional liability beyond the Form I-9.