Stop E-Verify

The Rhode Island General Assembly is considering mandatory employer participation in a fatally flawed federal program called "E-Verify."

Designed to be a voluntary program that gives employers access to federal databases to cross reference work authorization, the E-Verify databases are riddled with errors and the program requirements create a huge financial and administrative burden.

Simply put: at a time when thousands of Rhode Islanders are looking for work and businesses large and small are struggling to keep their doors open, E-Verify will have a devastating effect on Rhode Island.

Please take a minute to send a message to House and Senate Leadership and your Representative and Senator to tell them to stop E-Verify now.

The US Senate rejected mandatory E-Verify participation to contractors receiving federal stimulus dollars.

Employers say E-Verify is "costly," "inefficient" and "disruptive to operations."

The Social Security Administration estimates that if E-Verify were mandatory across the country SSA database errors alone could result in 3.6 million workers a year being misidentified as not work authorized, that's potentially thousands of Rhode Islanders.

Unfortunately, misinformation from individuals who do all they can to promote disunity in our communities have brought E-Verify back to the General Assembly year after year. It's time we clear the confusion, get the facts straight and tell the General Assembly that E-Verify is fatally flawed and will devastate Rhode Island.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Vote No on H5143, S210

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to ask you to vote against mandatory participation by Rhode Island employers in the fatally flawed federal program E-Verify (H5143, S210). This bill will create a tremendous financial burden on the state, one we cannot afford. You may not be aware that the U.S. Senate rejected including E-Verify requirements in the federal stimulus package. There are three primary problems with the program: 1) the database is riddled with millions of errors misidentifying people as unauthorized to work and potentially shutting the door on employment for thousands of Rhode Island workers. 2) It is extremely costly for employers and creates an administrative burden on small business in a moment when businesses are struggling to keep their doors open. 3) It is difficult to follow and employers misuse the information and violate workers rights. As you know, employers are already required to fulfill work authorization requirements via the I-9 form and would continue to do so if E-Verify passed. Currently 1% of the approximately 7.4 million employers nationwide participate in E-Verify. According to the American Council on International Personnel (ACIP) the reason 99% of employers have not enrolled in E-Verify is not because they are shirking their employment verification responsibilities but because E-Verify enrollment is "not easy or efficient." One small business in Maryland who made clear that they already follow federal guidelines for work authorization has not enrolled in E-Verify because it does not have "the luxury of a large human resources department" and the costs for one year would total approximately $27,000. Employers don't understand the requirements and misuse the program. 47 percent of employers put workers through the program before they've started work, which is against the program rules, 22 percent of employers restricted work assignments based on tentative mismatches, before employees have an opportunity to clear the error with Social Security. There are unscrupulous employers who operate in Rhode Island and use people's real or percieved immigration status to withhold pay, force unpaid overtime and create abusive conditions. These employers operate well outside of the system that E-Verify will impact. The General Assembly could put an end to wage theft by fully resourcing the state department of labor, promoting the enforcement of existing wage and hour laws and urging our federal delegation to promote comprehensive immigration reform this year. There's much misinformation on what E-Verify requires, but simply put: E-Verify will cause tremendous financial burden on Rhode Island employers and workers alike at a time when we can't afford one more setback. Please vote no on H5143, S210.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 01, 2009

Background Information

E-Verify, the flawed federal program that Congress rejected in its considerations on federal stimulus requirements, is being considered in the Rhode Island General Assembly. At a time when thousands of Rhode Islanders are out of work, when businesses are struggling to keep their doors open, E-Verify would have a devastating effect on Rhode Island.

Employers Say E-Verify is Too Expensive and Inefficient

Mandatory participation in E-Verify would further increase the cost of doing business in a tough economic climate. According to the American Council on International Personnel, the reason that 99% of employers across the country have not enrolled in E-Verify is because E-Verify enrollment is “not easy or efficient.”
According to a small business in Maryland who takes all the legal responsiblities of maintaining their workforce seriously has not enrolled in E-Verify because it does not have “the luxury of a large human resources department and the costs for one year would total aproximately $27,000.
MCL Enterprises, an employer in Arizona, found the transition to E-Verify, extremely “costly” and “disruptive to operations”.

E-Verify is Highly Inaccurate and Shuts the Door on Workers

E-Verify relies on the government databases with an unacceptably high error rate. The Social Security Administration has estimated that mandatory use of E-Verify could result in 3.6 million workers a year being misidentified as not able to work, closing the door to employment on thousands of Rhode Islanders.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman interviewd Arizona employers (where E-Verify is mandatory) and found the “concern most frequently identified” is that the notices employers receive when the federal database cannot confirm a worker’s employment eligibility are “issued on work authorized individuals.”

Employers don’t understand the requirements and don’t follow the rules.

47% of employers in the program put workers through before their first day of work.
22 % of employers restrict work assignments, 16 % delayed job training, and 2% reduced pay based on tentative nonconfirmation notices before employees can challenge the findings.
Foreign born US citizens are 30 times more likely to come up as a nonconfirmation.

These facts together create within E-Verify a legislative mandate to discriminate on immigrant Rhode Islanders.

Rhode Island needs comprehensive immigration reform on the federal level, not another failed program that will devastate our already failing economy. Please send a message to your legislators right now asking them to vote against E-Verify in Rhode Island.

Source: "Why Mandatory Employer Participation Will Hurt Workers, Businesses and the Struggling U.S. Economy. National Immigration Law Center, www.nilc.org February 2009