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Many on Capitol Hill are eyeing favorably bills that create a massive electronic employment databases.  While proponents of the Shuler-Tancredo "SAVE Act" (HR 4088) and the Johnson "New Employee Verification Act of 2008" (HR 5515) talk tough about cracking down on illegal immigrants, the truth is their bills' nationwide mandatory electronic employment verification system require all American workers, foreign- and native-born alike, to seek the government's permission to work.  If the government database isn't accurate, Americans will be denied employment and paychecks, at least temporarily, while they attempt to resolve the problem with the government agencies.

 

The proposed bills build upon the E-Verify program, a small pilot program that taps Social Security Administration (SSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases to make determinations about employment authorization.  IPC just released a new Immigration Fact Check, titled ERROR! Electronic Employment Verification Systems: What Will Happen When Citizens Have to Ask the Government For Permission to Work?, that covers what we know about the databases and what we can expect if these bills are passed, including information on database error rates, the impact on the SSA, and employers' misuse of the program.