DHS asks: How dare you question us!
In one of the most insulting posts I’ve read in a while, the Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary to Policy writes a scathing critique of SHRM’s lobbying to delay federal requirements to require E-Verify for certain employers.
I have a problems with SHRM and I’ve disagreed with their lobbying in the past but on this issue SHRM is right on and our government is trying to use its bully pulpit to shut down one of the legitimate arguments against mandatory use of the E-Verify system.
What is E-Verify
E-Verify is a DHS sponsored program to help employers verify whether a person is legally able to work in the US. Right now, this is a voluntary program but DHS wants to extend the program to include all federal contractors. Sounds good, right?
There are major problems with E-Verify as it stands right now. [1] [2] [3] [4]
The biggest one right now is that studies have indicated that at least 4% of the records are inaccurate. That’s inaccurate as in people who are currently okay to work in this country would be incorrectly identified as being ineligible. What could these inaccuracies lead to? Oh, nothing too big besides losing your job or being unfairly rejected for employment. But the good news is, once you actually do get your records fixed so that you show up as verified, someone will probably already have the job you lost.
DHS Says “Like the System or You Are Advocating for Hiring Illegal Aliens”
I love that an Assistant Secretary in one of the most powerful executive branches has to resort to name calling and straw men as responses to SHRM’s legitimate effort to at least delay an errant program. If there are significant issues with the database being used and it is going to hurt our hiring efforts by denying legitimate employees opportunities, why shouldn’t SHRM be arguing against a program like this? Even if the number was only 1%, that would still involve the lives of around 1.5 million American workers not being able to obtain employment. Only the size of a major American city.
I don’t understand how anyone can be okay with error rates like this and to shift the burden of proof and correction from the government to the employee. Bring in your passport or social security card but if the system rejects you, it is now your responsibility to go correct an error that DHS made with your file. Oh, and while you’re correcting it, you can’t receive a paycheck. Good luck!
Arrogance Leads to Dismissal of Outside Experts
Assistant Secretary Baker’s arrogance cannot be understated and he acts like a typical career bureaucrat in his entire message. The best part about this whole story though is that DHS never once met with the largest organization representing HR professionals in the development of E-Verify. Must I even mention that HR professionals will be the only people who use this system and DHS thought they knew better than us.
I haven’t met an HR professional that wants to hire illegal aliens. Whether it be for the embarrassment, the fines or their own sake, I think any HR person would love to have a system that would verify whether a person was legally able to work. It is one less thing we would have to worry about.
I guess it is easier to sit at your desk and never have to speak to people or businesses that are impacted by your product (i.e. the best thing available because it is the ONLY thing available). While it is nice to have a government blog (one that is even open to commenting), sometimes I wish I was more in the dark about what our bureaucrats spend their time and energies on. If only this sort of passion led to a better system, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
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Your HR Guy is a Human Resources Generalist practicing in the field. But don't let that fool you, this isn't a boring blog. I seek relevance and humor in a place we will spend much of our lives. Everything from workplace issues, job seeking and terrible bosses. Read more...
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The Department of Homeland Security is the most woefully broken, yet powerful agency in the USA (operating in and outside of the law). Do no expect any objective or rational thinking until another administration is in place. And then, it will be by a long shot.
Ah, DHS, the FEMA of Security!
Well FEMA and DHS are in the same division. Not terribly surprising.
Lance, you rock on with yo’ bad self. I love this post. I think I might marry it.
“The biggest one right now is that studies have indicated that at least 4% of the records are inaccurate.”
WOW! 4% inaccurate? Shocking! How could they possibly go forward with something with a 96% success rate? Unbelievable. You know, 96% will get you a degree with honors at the finest colleges and universities in the country.
“What could these inaccuracies lead to? Oh, nothing too big besides losing your job or being unfairly rejected for employment. But the good news is, once you actually do get your records fixed so that you show up as verified, someone will probably already have the job you lost.”
Actually, the only one who will lose their potential job is the one dealing with an HR “professional” who overreacts. Even if you do not show up as verified, there is an opportunity to pursue verification, so if the employer really does want to hire that person (and you all keep saying how hard pressed you are to find applicants for your jobs, and how committed you are to your employees and your applicants), then work with the 4% to “correct” the verification – or maybe many in the 4% are not eligible to work. Not hard to imagine given the MILLIONS OF UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS in the U.S.
Stop the whining.
Not an HR Guy: That number may not sound big but that’s 1.5 million people if it is even 1% (6 million if it is 4%). I think that is an unacceptable error rate and so do lots of people. What if 4% of planes crashed every year? Would you feel confident about stepping on board?
Tell your friends at the DHS that we want a system that isn’t broken and instead of spending time chastising organizations that point out their issues, they could attempt to solve. Is that too much to ask? Apparently so.
I don’t understand why it is considered whining to point out an issue with a busted up system and to say that you oppose its mandatory use? Maybe you could clear that up for me, Pal?
If the HR people are the experts on how these things work, then YOU and SHRM should be making constructive suggestions as to improvements to the existing system, not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If this is just a concern about databases, then that is an IT problem. But, if every time something is proposed to address a problem (employers hiring illegal aliens to the tune of millions of people), people object to the nuances, there will be no correction of the problem. As a result, there will be no progress in any of the broader employment based categories. The national perception that illegal immigration is not being addressed is one of the underlying problems preventing rational consideration of comprehensive immigration reform.
Sorry about the whining comment, but I have been sseing too many “whining comments” (not constructive criticisms) on this issue.
And we are not talking about airplanes. We are talking about paperwork, not fatal planecrashes. SHRM cites 225,000 members in 125 countries. Assuming there are more HR pros than SHRM has members, and you divide your 1% number (1.5 Mil.) by 225,000, you get a caseload of a little more than 6 to 1. Rough and unscientific, I acknowledge, but it doesn’t seem unmanageable to me.
Actually SHRM HAS supported constructive suggestions in the form of comprehensive legislation for mandatory employment verification (called New Employment Verification Act or NEVA).
The problem I have with patched together systems is the same thing I have with every problem that is fixed with bailing wire and duct tape. Do we need a solution? Yes. Can we put some critical thought into it? Absolutely. Does fixing an existing problem with a broken system make sense? No. We can’t favor “any solution” as THE solution. Why doesn’t it make sense to develop a system that we won’t have to continually fix over the next five years to make it work anywhere close to correctly?
And my comment about airplanes was intentionally hyperbolic. We aren’t talking about college grades either. We are talking about people’s lives and making them intentionally more difficult because the government wants to push a solution on employers that isn’t even close to being complete. If a person is eligible to work in this country on August 1st, they shouldn’t have to wait until the government updates their verification database or that they have to go down to the nearest office and figure it out (and in that time, they lose money that they didn’t count on losing).
Nobody cares about those people at DHS. They won’t say it outright. It is a casualty to a misdirection of resources in the losing war against illegal immigration.