NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: Social Security Administration’s Use Of E-Verify For New Hires Is Slipshod
Although federal agencies are required to conduct an E-Verify check on new hires to determine their citizenship status and eligibility to work in the U.S., an audit by the Social Security Administration's inspector general finds that of 9,311 people hired in 2008 and 2009 E-Verify checks were not run 1,767 of them (19 percent). In addition, checks on another 1,784 hires were not performed within the mandatory three-day window. The Washington Times reports that 44 of the new hires who were never checked “should have been flagged as potential problems”:
It's all the more embarrassing because the agency, along with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, runs E-Verify, the tool the government expects to become mandatory for all U.S. businesses.
In an official response submitted to the inspector general, Social Security officials said they accepted all of the inspector general's criticisms. But the response also said the officials disagreed with the finding that every new hire must be screened. [Emphasis, The Stiletto.] …
All federal agencies are required to check their new hires against the system. As of September, federal contractors also are required to check new employees. Some states have gone so far as to require all businesses to check new employees.
A mandatory verification system is almost certain to be a part of any immigration bill enacted in Congress, and the penalties for failure to use the system are likely to be severe.
E-Verify critic Jim Harper, director of information policy studies at the Cato Institute, tells The Times that noncompliance in the private sector triggers investigations and penalties, but “[w]hen this happens in the government sector, well, the upshot is an IG report.”
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