Monday, February 23, 2009

Can illegals be screened?


An editorial in the Observer about illegal immigrants getting stimulus jobs drew criticism for saying E-Verify, a government program that employers can use to confirm citizenship, had a high error rate.
One reader wrote:

"I demand that you retract the lead editorial on today's Opinion page. You
stated "...E Verify, the system companies use to confirm legal status, has an
error rate that has limited its usefulness."
Since when is an accuracy rate
of 99.6 not good enough? Nothing else in our government works nearly as
well"

We think the error rate is closer to 5 or 6 percent, based on what's been reported. But what is considered an error is controversial.
The Department of Homeland Security defends its program, and explains the error rate cited above. (But please note there's a "non-comfirmation" rate as well that DHS does not consider error, and others do.)
The U.S. Chamber says E-Verify doesn't work, and points to reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
The Christian Science Monitor reports on its flaws.
The national association for public universities says its error rate hinders its use.



- Posted by Mary Schulken

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

seems we can count on the observer and company to root for illegals not citizens...we need to outsource your jobs or let illegal newspaper people in and give them your jobs

zeezil said...

The only ones that say E-Verify doesn't work are of two types:
1) stupid; or
2) in favor of illegal immigration

E-Verify is the most successful program ever devised by the federal government. There is nothing else that is even close. It is 99.6% effective in screening out those not eligable to work (illegals). It is not used until the job offer is extended and the applicant has accepted the job - so it cannot be used as a pre-screening tool. If any discrepancy arises during the check, the employer and applicant are given sufficient time to correct the situation (if there has been an incorrect data entry, the applicant has changed names but not notified social security, etc.). Only after the applicant has been given sufficient time to rectify the situation but hasn't is the employment terminated.

Bottom line, E-verify is as perfect as any government program you'll ever get. That is what scares illegal aliens and those that support their presence and employment in the U.S. They come up with wild accusations that are totally unfounded and untrue about the program.

If E-verify was required to be used by all employers (both public and private) in the country, illegal immigration would be stopped in its tracks because illegals woul be unable to obtain jobs. Remember it has been a federal violation since 1986 to employ illegal aliens. So what are we waiting for - implement E-Verify nationwide.

zeezil said...

Keep in mind that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports large multinational corporations and fully favors them hiring labor at the cheapest possible rates. In fact, the U.S. CoC is fully in favor of illegal immigration (to the detriment of American citizens) because they work at rates somewhere between third word wages and the average pay rate that Americans would expect from the job...in other words CHEAP LABOR. The U.S. CoC is every bit as despicable as the ACLU, both organizations actively work against our national interest.