Contact: Dotty Griffith, Public Education Director, ACLU of Texas, (512) 478-7300 x 106; [email protected]
Austin -- The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas today warned employers and workers with federal contracts about implications of the Sept. 8 implementation of mandatory participation in E-Verify.
Beginning today, all employers with federal contracts lasting longer than 120 days or for amounts greater than $100,000 will be required to check all current and future employees against E-Verify, a flawed federal database rife with errors. E-Verify combines files from the Social Security Administration and immigration files from the Department of Homeland Security. Employers using E-Verify enter worker information into an Internet system that, in theory, informs the employer whether the worker is authorized for employment in the United States. As of today, employers with federal contracts will be required to participate.
“Currently there is no recourse for a citizen or legal resident that is incorrectly identified as ineligible to work,” said Terri Burke, Executive Director of the ACLU of Texas. “Mandatory participation in a system that even the agencies acknowledge is error ridden without meaningful due process procedures is an affront to all workers and employers.”
The Social Security Administration itself estimates that if E-Verify and the database are not improved, errors from the Social Security Administration alone could result in 3.6 million workers each year being misidentified as not authorized for employment. By mandating participation in E-Verify, the rule effectively requires employees of federal contractors to “get a permission slip” to work. The database not only increases the risk for identity theft, but also increases the likelihood of not being hired or worse yet, being fired, when an eligible worker’s information is not properly stored in the database.
“Requiring the use of E-Verify for employers with federal contracts will mean that U.S. citizens and legal resident workers in Texas could lose their jobs due to errors in the E-Verify database, causing huge hardship for the employers and the employees alike,” said Rebecca Bernhardt, Policy Director of the ACLU of Texas. “At a time when our government should be doing everything it can to keep people employed, making E-Verify mandatory for any employer is a mistake.”
The Sept. 8 start date for federal contracts stems from the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council final rule that amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). After Bush Executive Order 13465, all executive departments and agencies must include in contracts a provision requiring use of “an electronic employment eligibility verification system,” otherwise called E-Verify. According to the rule, in the initial fiscal year approximately 168,624 contractors and subcontractors and 3.8 million workers will be affected.
"In a free society, we shouldn't need a permission slip from the government to earn a living," said Burke. "This system entangles businesses and workers alike in a bureaucratic nightmare."
