The Next Generation of E-Verify: Getting Employer Verification Right

This webinar featured a presentation on MPI’s recommendations to improve E-Verify and examined proposed congressional approaches to employment verification.  

Just prior to the July 2009 House and Senate hearings on E-Verify and other options for a new national work identification system, MPI released a report that examined the strengths and weaknesses of E-Verify and urged Congress and the Department of Homeland Security to take immediate steps to strengthen the electronic employment verification system while also testing alternatives for a next-generation E-Verify.

The report, The Next Generation of E-Verify: Getting Employment Verification Right, recommended immediate steps to strengthen the existing E-Verify, and in the context of expected mandatory electronic employment verification and comprehensive immigration reform urged the testing of several new voluntary pilots for a next-generation E-Verify system.

The report outlined three alternatives, along with their strengths and weaknesses, for a next-generation E-Verify, recommending that Congress approve pilot testing on a voluntary basis of systems based on secure documents, PIN pre-verification, and biometric scanning. The current E-Verify model places employers at the center of the identity authentication process, which has resulted in difficulties for employers and workers alike. The proposed pilot programs would move from an employer-centric to a more employer-neutral model, streamlining the steps employers are required to take to confirm work authorization for new hires; reducing incentives and potential for identity fraud; and removing the guesswork in authenticating the identities of new hires.

This webinar featured a presentation by Marc R. Rosenblum, MPI Senior Policy Analyst and report co-author, on MPI’s recommendations and the report’s findings, as well as proposed congressional approaches to employment verification.

Speakers:

Marc R. Rosenblum, Senior Policy Analyst, MPI

About the U.S. Immigration Policy Program

The U.S. Immigration Policy Program provides analysis of U.S. immigration pathways, the impacts of enforcement and other policies, and the characteristics of immigrant populations.