Fact of the Week: 3/20/08

Thursday, March 20, 2008

It’s Time for Congress to Create an Employment Verification System That Works


 Fact Check


Americans have strong doubts about the effectiveness of the current federal employment verification system known as E-Verify.

Did you know a recent poll of Americans found the following?

  • 73% of Americans express “serious” or “very serious” doubts about E-Verify when presented with evidence the system is vulnerable to identity theft and document fraud.
  • 59% of Americans express serious or very serious doubts about E-Verify when told that the system relies on government databases with a 4% error rate.
  • 79% of Americans favor incorporating the use of a biometric identifier, such as a thumb print, in the employment verification process.

A national survey of 1045 adults was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Public Opinion Strategies on behalf of the Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce.  To learn more about the poll, visit www.legal-workforce.org.

 The New Employee Verification Act will mandate a national employment verification system that is reliable, efficient and secure.

 

With E-Verify Set to Expire in 2008, Now is the Time for the Next Generation of Employment Verification.

 

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The Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce (www.legal-workforce.org) represents human resource professionals in thousands of small and large U.S. employers representing every sector of the American economy.  The HR Initiative and its members are seeking to improve the current process of employment verification by creating a secure, efficient and reliable system that will ensure a legal workforce and help prevent unauthorized employment, a root cause of illegal immigration.