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Employers play key role in immigration debate
By Scott Miller
Staff Writer
The federal E-Verify program that ensures the legality of immigrant workers hasn’t been a headache in Arizona, at least not as much as businesses there originally thought it would.
The state in January began requiring employers to use the program, one of the first states to do so.
“I would say we haven’t heard as much negative backlash as we originally thought,” said Ann Seiden of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which unsuccessfully challenged the E-Verify requirement in court.
“It’s been a relatively smooth transition considering it’s a federal program that needed to ramp up tenfold just to handle Arizona,” she said.
Brantley Construction Co. of Charleston can attest to that. Assuming the state would soon mandate the use of E-Verify, the company began using it in June to get ahead of the curve, said Chris Hilliard, who handles E-Verify for the company.
“Actually it was very easy. It was a very simple program,” she said.
Hilliard also said the number of applications the company receives are down because people without proper documentation likely aren’t applying. Arizona has also reported that illegal immigrants are starting to self deport that state because of the E-Verify requirement.
Still, disagreement over the E-Verify system could derail the state’s entire effort to curb illegal immigration. Business groups and some lawmakers oppose E-Verify, pushing instead to use the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Form that critics argue doesn’t check for fraudulent Social Security numbers.
Attempts to reform
With the federal government unable to act, state leaders made it their mission this year to curb illegal immigration. The centerpiece of that legislative package is some attempt to cut the job opportunities for illegal immigrants by requiring employers to verify their citizenship.
But the reform package takes several other steps too, such as denying state-funded benefits to illegal aliens and prohibiting them from attending public colleges or receiving scholarships.
The state would gain authority to bill the federal government as reimbursement for the cost of detaining illegal immigrants. The bill also attempts to give state law enforcement the power to enforce federal immigration laws, including the ability to deport illegal immigrants.
Reform in jeopardy
But all those measures appear tied to a compromise regarding employment verification. The legislation requires employers with public contracts to use E-Verify, but the debate continues over how to handle private employers.
The latest measure, as amended by the Senate, would allow private employers to use a state version of I-9, E-Verify or a state driver’s licenses to check the citizenship of their new hires.
The House wants nothing to do with I-9, which is already a federal requirement anyway.
The business community, meanwhile, has lobbied in support of the I-9 option.
“(E-Verify) is more difficult for some of the smaller companies to use. We want to make sure businesses have options,” said Marcia Purday, vice president of communications and public relations for the S.C. Chamber of Commerce.
Compromise never made
Negotiations on the bill appeared to end with the House and Senate pointing fingers at the other, saying procedural rules prevented either chamber from taking a vote on a compromise without action from the other. The Senate eventually broke those negotiations by amending that compromise.
That amendment attempted to remove the I-9 option but Ritchie and Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Isle of Palms, couldn’t get the votes needed. Eventually, the measure reinstated the I-9 option, though a state version of it rather than the federal form.
“The I-9 system has failed because you cannot scrutinize the documents submitted,” Campsen said. “The most effective device a state can implement is E-Verify.”
Sen. John Land, D-Manning, however, said E-verify would hurt farmers and questioned the impact on independent contractors as well.
“You are in effect setting them up to be a criminals,” he said. “It’s much bigger and much more complicated than y’all believe it to be.”
The House was expected to consider the measure after the Business Journal went to press.
House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, was still reviewing the Senate amendment, said spokesman Greg Foster. Previously, however, Foster repeatedly said the House could not support legislation that would allow employers to use the I-9 form to verify the legal status of their employees.
Gov. Mark Sanford, meanwhile, lambasted the Senate for removing the E-Verify mandate.
“By stripping out the E-verify requirement … the Senate has taken out the single most effective part of this immigration reform bill,” he said.
Sanford also claimed the state could not impose fines up to $10,000 on employers who knowingly and repeatedly hire illegal immigrants, as the Senate approved, because the state cannot pre-empt federal law.
Problems with E-Verify
But E-Verify has its problems too.
Several states are considering an E-Verify mandate. Arizona and Oklahoma have already done so, and business groups have fought them in court. Neither was successful. The Arizona chamber appealed, despite the relatively smooth transition for businesses using the system.
“If a state’s setting this type of regulation that other states don’t, it really makes Arizona less competitive than other states,” Seiden said, saying immigration policy is a federal issue, not a state issue.
Critics question the reliability of E-Verify. Different reports place its error rate at anywhere from 5% to 10%, or higher. The more companies using it, the more problematic it could become as the federal database is stretched thin.
According to a 2007 report by the Government Accountability Office, E-Verify cannot fully reduce document fraud or identity fraud. In addition, the system is vulnerable to employer fraud, where businesses use the same documentation to verify multiple workers.
Some employers may also struggle with confirmation delays. Nearly 7% of queries are not confirmed by the initial automated check, the report said.
Hilliard said she hasn’t had problems. She receives confirmation from E-Verify in about 30 seconds. Only twice has she been notified that the Social Security numbers she provided did not match federal records. The matter was quickly resolved, and Brantley was able to hire both employees.
“We feel very comfortable and confident with this system,” she said. “It’s been a good system.”
Scott Miller is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at smiller@scbiznews.com.
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