E-Verify checks begin today

LINCOLN — The lack of grumbling from highway contractors is a good sign.

Claude Oie, the state construction engineer, figures the silence means that companies don't have major concerns about a new Nebraska law requiring them to check all new hires against an electronic federal database called E-Verify.

The law takes effect today.

Lawmakers passed Legislative Bill 403 to ensure that public money and public jobs go only to citizens or people who are in the country legally.

Oie and other officials said implementation of the law appears to be going smoothly.

“The word's been out since the law passed,” he said. “There's quite a few of them (contractors) that are using some sort of verification system already.”

Kim Conroy, deputy state tax commissioner, said the Nebraska Department of Revenue has worked to spread the word to businesses that might want tax incentives. “We don't want there to be any surprises with companies on these things,” she said.

For state and local governments, the new law means using the federal E-Verify system to check the status of employees hired starting today.

The same new E-Verify requirement also applies to companies that sign contracts with state and local governments and companies applying for Nebraska business tax incentives.

E-Verify is a free, Internet-based system that allows employers to check workers against Social Security and immigration databases.

Sherri McNair, records manager for the Omaha Public Schools, has already tried out the system in preparation. She said it was easy to use.

OPS, like other employers, has been required for years to check employees' documents to verify their employment eligibility. The new law merely specifies how the checks are done, McNair said.

The law also requires state and local governments to verify that people who apply for public benefits are in the country legally.

The requirement applies to anyone getting a grant, loan, contract or professional or commercial license, as well as anyone seeking welfare benefits, food assistance, unemployment benefits or other aid.

Among those affected are students getting financial aid, health care workers getting professional licenses, and people who have been laid off from their jobs.

Applicants must sign a legal document attesting to whether they are citizens. Agencies must check all noncitizens against a federal database called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements.

Becky Gould, executive director of the Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest, has concerns about how the new law will affect people who qualify for benefits and jobs.

Previous laws already barred illegal immigrants from getting benefits, she said. She worries that the additional requirements could discourage qualified people from getting help.

“There's very, very little evidence of undocumented immigrants accessing benefits they're not entitled to,” Gould said.

The Appleseed center also has concerns about the E-Verify system. Gould said that inaccuracies in the database can create problems for workers and that registering and using the system adds to the burden on employers.

Statistics from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services show an error rate of less than 1 percent for people checked from October through December last year. Those were people initially rejected by the system and later found eligible to work.

During the same period, the system found that 2.8 percent of people checked were ineligible to work in the United States.

Use of the E-Verify system has ballooned this year. Employers made 5.5 million checks through the middle of the year, a pace far ahead of the 6.6 million checks made in all of last year.

That number is expected to continue growing. The federal government on Sept. 8 started requiring all contractors and subcontractors to check employees with the E-Verify system.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com

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