Editorial: Does the E-Verify system have a future?

Whatever comprehensive immigration reform plan finally emerges from Congress will almost certainly make it more difficult for future immigrants to enter the country illegally — and, if they do, will make it harder for them to stay. One of the likely mechanisms of that is the E-Verify hiring database, which is designed to keep illegal immigrants from working in the U.S. Since it was introduced, E-Verify has been a deeply flawed system, and this page has opposed its expansion and mandatory use. Now, though, some of its problems are being fixed.

E-Verify determines whether job applicants are legally eligible to work in the U.S. by checking their names against databases kept by the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. Unfortunately, in its early iterations, the system both failed to detect illegal workers more than 50% of the time and, in far too many cases, wrongly denied eligible applicants the right to work.

That may be changing. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services recently rolled out an updated self-check system called myE-Verify, which allows workers to edit their profiles in the E-Verify database and challenge information they believe to be inaccurate. It includes a component called Self Lock through which individuals can “lock” a Social Security number. If someone tries to get a job using your number, both you and the potential employer will know. Although it is only available in five states and Washington, D.C., this is clearly a step forward.

But it also moves the country closer to a more nuanced set of problems. Five states require employers to use E-Verify, and an additional 13 require that it be consulted for state employees or, in two cases, employees of state contractors. More than half a million employers nationwide use the database, many of them voluntarily. But as the program expands, illegal immigrants who have been here for years and might be eligible for an eventual path to citizenship could lose their jobs and face deportation.

This is a conundrum. This page believes people who enter the country illegally do not have a right to work. But we also believe that as part of a comprehensive immigration reform plan, immigrants who have been in the United States for a long period of time, have established roots and avoided legal trouble should be eligible for a path to citizenship. Most immigration reform proposals include such provisions, including the Senate’s 2013 bill, which the House has not voted on. According to one analysis, 60% of the estimated 9.6 million deportable adults in the country have been here at least 10 years. They are among the people jeopardized by E-Verify.

E-Verify may ultimately become a useful tool to help control illegal immigration. But it doesn’t make sense to expand it nationally or make it mandatory until the country has decided what to do with the enormous population of illegal immigrants already here. That’s why E-Verify should be a part of comprehensive immigration discussion, not a one-off policy that creates more problems than it solves.

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