Media Contact: Adela de la Torre; dela...@nilc.org
(213) 674-2832 or (213) 400-7822
July 8, 2009
The National Immigration Law Center is disappointed by the Obama administration's decision to renew the former administration's rule requiring that federal government contractors and subcontractors use E-Verify, an ineffective tool used to check for workplace eligibility. We applaud the administration's simultaneous decision to rescind the Social Security Administration's (SSA) No-Match rule, which was never designed to verify employment authorization and would have caused the termination of countless thousands of American citizens and work-authorized immigrants. However, the decision to expand E-Verify without correcting its defects will lead to similar results. The SSA and DHS databases upon which E-Verify relies for verification of legal status has unacceptably high error rates and the vast expansion of the program would lead to the erroneous dismissal of workers. American people deserve better than a flawed tool to fix the broken immigration system. This action only underscores the need for swift Congressional action on comprehensive immigration reform.
"Today's announcement by the administration is bittersweet at a time when the failing economy is already devastating working families across the nation," said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of NILC. "NILC calls on Congress and the administration to get serious about addressing the nation's immigration woes through broad and humane immigration reform that provides real solutions rather than continuing to build on flawed programs like E-Verify.
"Facts about E-Verify: http://www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/ircaempverif/e-verify-facts-about-2008-10.pdf
Basic Pilot/E-Verify: Why Mandatory Employment Verification will Hurt Workers, Businesses, and the Struggling U.S. Economy: http://www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/ircaempverif/e-verify-facts-2009-01-29.pdf
Facts about Social Security "No Match" Letter: http://www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/SSA-NM_Toolkit/factsaboutno-matchletter_2008-03-26.pdf
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