USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced new civil rights initiatives tied to E-Verify. E-Verify is the USCIS program that allows employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of newly hired employees. Below are the most recent initiatives in the E-Verify program.
U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced new civil rights initiatives tied to E-Verify. E-Verify is the USCIS program that allows employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of newly hired employees.
On March 17, 2010, Director Mayorkas signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between USCIS and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division. The MOA establishes the process for referrals between USCIS and DOJ’s Civil Rights Division with respect to allegations of discrimination from employer use of E-Verify and information regarding the misuse, abuse, or fraudulent use of E-Verify.
The Civil Rights initiatives also include:
1. Two Videos designed for employers and employees portraying real-world hiring scenarios. The 20-minute videos are the result of collaboration between DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and USCIS.
· “Understanding E-Verify: Employer Responsibilities and Worker Rights,” aimed at employers, explains E-Verify rules, procedures, and policies to employers with an emphasis on safeguarding employee privacy.
· “Know Your Rights: Employee Rights and Responsibilities,” aimed at employees, places special emphasis on the rights of employees, particularly when an employee receives a message from E-Verify indicating that there is a problem with the employment eligibility documents that the employee submitted to the employer. “Know Your Rights” is in English and Spanish.
2. (888) 897-7781: A dedicated Employee Hotline created to respond to employee inquiries, also available in English and Spanish, will be inaugurated on April 5, 2010.
1. General E-Verify information,
2. Completing the Form I-9,
3. Contesting an E-Verify case, and
4. Filing a complaint regarding possible discrimination or employer misuse of the E-Verify program.
E-Verify is currently used by over 192,000 employers at 707,000 worksites and is growing by more than 1,000 employers a week. For more information about E-Verify, please see www.dhs.gov/e-verify.
Mary Herrmann
Office of Public Engagement, Community Relations
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
Washington DC 20529
phone: 202.272.1213
fax: 202.272.1317