Mandatory E-Verify Would Help U.S. Workers

Rise in Unemployment: The startling unemployment numbers rising to around 9.2 percent on a national level is totally unacceptable to the American nationals. In fact, there are 14 million desperate local Americans, who are unable to find suitable jobs for themselves. This number, however, does not include the other million who are underemployed. It is high time the Government wakes up and takes a look at the dismal scenario. There is not an iota of doubt that it is the Americans who are feeling the pinch.

Remedial Steps: There are immediate remedial steps to be taken to rectify the current explosive situation. In all seriousness, the Congress requires introducing the Legal Workforce Act, which would stand beneficial for their fellow Americans in the long run and is the right time to act.

The E-Verify System: It would become not only necessary but obligatory for all employers in the US to utilize the E-Verify system. An accurate and computer-based employee verification method, it makes sure that employees arriving in the US have a legitimate right to work.

Incredibly, there is a shocking 7 million people working in the US through illegal means and that much number of jobs can be made available to the American workers through the E-verify method when implemented within two years. It has become the need of the hour.

Advantages of E-Verify System: Once the E-Verify program is implemented and put into force, it would eliminate the most important factor of illegal immigrants entering the US or staying beyond the time-limit of their visas taking up work in the US. In two years time, there will be substantial number of jobs available for the American citizen. It is a myth that the average American worker would not be able to take up work which the illegal immigrant is doing. With the dismissal of illegal immigrants from a fast food company, there was a queue of Americans waiting to take up those jobs. The workers who have been dismissed would never stand a chance to work at another job anywhere in the US.

One of the salient facts remains that with the E-Verify Program in place, it would serve as a deterrent for an illegal immigrant entering the US as a temporary worker and never leaving the country. There are presently more than 250,000 employers in the US who use the E-Verify System voluntarily and around 1,300 fresh businesses signed every week. The accuracy of the E-Verify system is relatively high as it matches the person’s name, social security number and the birth date against the database of the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. It is free of cost and reduces the redundant paper work for American businesses, besides lowering the cost of employers and is therefore totally race neutral. Undoubtedly, it would open up new vistas and give a new direction for the American workers.