Iraq Naturalization Trip

As you read this, I’m in the air over the Mediterranean Sea on my way home from the Middle East. I would like to share with you what I just experienced. In Baghdad, at one of the former Presidential Palaces, I had the distinct honor of naturalizing 186 men and women serving in uniform in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Many of these service members have seen extensive combat and have served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. During my tenure with USCIS, I’ve had the opportunity to naturalize soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in far reaching corners of the world from Afghanistan to Djibouti. As a veteran of our military, I know first-hand the sacrifices our nation’s veterans make to secure our freedoms. Since 2004, more than 6,000 service members have become U.S. citizens while stationed overseas – of that number 2,500 naturalized in Iraq. Their service is a constant source of inspiration.

As the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, there’s another part of this story that’s just as important to me. Every time I naturalize military service members overseas, USCIS employees have gone before me to conduct interviews. From the deserts of Iraq, to the mountains of Afghanistan, to the middle of the ocean aboard Navy ships, the men and women of USCIS leave the safety of their homes to volunteer to support our troops. As I fly back to the States, I’m thinking not only of the sacrifices of our service members, I’m also thinking about the sacrifices of the USCIS public servants I work with that made these naturalizations possible.

I’m proud of the work my team does to naturalize military service members who are fully eligible for citizenship. However, our goal is to eliminate the need for conducting overseas military naturalization ceremonies by working closely with the Department of Defense to speed up the processing of military naturalization cases. We want to ensure that every eligible service member raises his or her right hand and recites the Oath of Allegiance before overseas deployment. This will benefit these brave men and women as well as their families. It’s the least a grateful nation can do for the men and women of our armed forces who have volunteered to defend America even before they’ve become citizens.

Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen
Acting Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

A Better, Not Harder Citizenship Test

On October 1, 2008, USCIS began administering a new naturalization test. The need for a standardized and meaningful test has been the source of study and discussion for more than a decade. I’m proud of the new test and the commitment we’ve made to giving applicants a meaningful and consistent testing experience across the board.

The purpose of the redesign was twofold: to make sure we have uniform testing experiences nationwide; and to develop a civics test that can effectively assess an applicant’s knowledge of U.S. history and government as the law requires. Naturalization applicants deserve a fair and standardized testing experience no matter where they take the test.

USCIS has made every effort to minimize the impact of this change by allowing one full year for preparation and by working closely with national and local immigrant-serving organizations along the way. Since announcing the test in September 2007, we have trained more than 2,000 educators and service providers, launched a variety of new study materials, and embarked on an unprecedented outreach campaign. You can see the study materials and judge for yourself their quality by going to http://www.uscis.gov/. I believe that the result is an effort all Americans can be proud of and one immigrants need not fear.

I would like to take this opportunity to let applicants know that what we have is a better, not harder test. The format is the same, just standardized across our offices. The civics test has been revamped and improved; and our 2007 pilots showed that those who study for the new test should pass. As for the English test, applicants now know exactly how to prepare through publicly released vocabulary lists. Also, all naturalization applicants now receive a new English and civics study booklet when they are fingerprinted at one of our Application Support Centers.

The new test was designed to serve as a tool to encourage civic learning and attachment to the country. Our pilot studies and research have shown that better content and a consistent format have not made the test more difficult. Through proper preparation and study, eligible candidates will be successful in achieving their dream of becoming a U.S. citizen. We will, however, monitor the results of the new test carefully and make this information public.

I want to commend those of you preparing for U.S. citizenship. The decision to apply is a very personal one. As you take this important step, it is my hope that the naturalization process helps strengthen your attachment to the United States and the democratic ideals that make this nation great. Thanks for reading and I look forward to your comments.

Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen
Acting Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Temporary Protected Status Extensions

Earlier this week, the Department announced the extension of temporary protected status (TPS) for certain foreign nationals from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. Those three countries are still recovering from the devastating effects of natural disasters. For Honduras and Nicaragua, it was Hurricane Mitch in 1999. For El Salvador, it was a series of severe earthquakes in 2001.

To qualify for an extension, the TPS holder is required to re-register with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Specific re-registration instructions for TPS holders from El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua will soon appear in the Federal Register.

There are currently 70,000 Hondurans, 3,500 Nicaraguans and 229,000 Salvadorans with TPS in the United States.

Today’s announcement continues the United States’ long tradition of providing relief to our visitors who, for reasons beyond their control, can’t return to their homes.

Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen
Acting Director, USCIS

Citizenship Day: An Opportunity to Reflect

My earlier entries for the Leadership Journal discussed the day-to-day operations of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and our efforts to improve service. Today, I would like to recognize the importance of Citizenship Day for our agency and our nation.

The law creating Citizenship Day was written in 2004 to celebrate the signing of the Constitution and recognize those who have become citizens. This holiday reminds us of the importance of citizenship.

Throughout our rich history, immigrants have come to the United States seeking liberty and a better life. Many decided to become citizens and have played key roles in the success of our Nation.

Citizenship Day reminds us that many of our greatest citizens were born in other countries. Alexander Hamilton, born on the tiny Caribbean island of Nevis, served with George Washington in the Revolutionary War and as our first Secretary of the Treasury. Felix Frankfurter, a civil rights supporter and Supreme Court Justice, came to the United States with his parents from Austria in the 1890s. Knute Rockne, who first moved to Chicago from Norway as a young boy, was one of America’s greatest college football coaches.

These and other great Americans remind us today and every day that citizenship is far more than a piece of paper – it is part of what makes our nation great. USCIS has no mission of greater importance than that of naturalizing citizens. This week alone, we will welcome nearly 40,000 new citizens during 177 ceremonies across the country.

The photograph next to this entry shows the pride of new Americans. Attending naturalization ceremonies and watching new citizens raise their right hand and wave the flag is the best part of my job.

Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen

Acting Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

H-2B Proposed Rule Changes: Your Feedback Welcome

In my most recent entry, I discussed steps that USCIS has been taking to upgrade our capacity to process naturalization applications. Today, I'd like to address proposed rule changes to existing H-2B regulations designed to streamline that important program.

Since its inception in 1986, the H-2B program has proven popular among businesses in non-agricultural industries such as landscaping, hospitality and construction. Little about the program has changed to accommodate employers' needs or improve worker protections. In order to better serve those participating in the program, we are proposing measures to remove unnecessary limitations, prevent fraud and abuse, and protect workers.

Beyond this general announcement, I would also like to share the specifics of the proposed rule changes and ask that you provide your feedback by submitting comments to the proposed rule.

Our proposed modifications would:

• Relax the current limitations on the ability of U.S. employers to petition for unnamed workers;
• Reduce from six months to three months the amount of time an H-2B worker whose status has expired must wait outside the United States before he or she is eligible to again obtain status under the H or L classifications;
• Require employer attestations on the scope of the H-2B employment and on the use of recruiters to locate beneficiaries and provide for denial or revocation of an H-2B petition if an H-2B worker was charged a fee in connection with the employment either (a) by the petitioner, or (b) by a recruiter where the petitioner knew or reasonably should have known that the recruiter was charging such fees;
• Eliminate the ability of employers to file an H-2B petition without an approved temporary labor certification;
• Preclude changing the employment start date after the temporary labor certification is certified by the Department of Labor;
• Require employer notifications to the Department of Homeland Security when H-2B workers fail to show up for work, are terminated, or abscond from the worksite;
• Change the definition of "temporary employment" to clearly define that employment is of a temporary nature when the need for the employee will end in the near, definable future and to eliminate the requirement that employers show "extraordinary circumstances" to be eligible to hire H-2B workers where a one-time need for the workers is longer than one year but shorter than three years;
• Prohibit the approval of H-2B petitions for nationals of countries determined to be consistently refusing or unreasonably delaying repatriation of their nationals; and
• Establish a land-border exit system pilot program under which H-2B workers admitted through a port of entry participating in the program must also depart through a port of entry participating in the program. Upon departure, they must present designated biographical information, possibly including biometric identifiers.

It is important to note that these proposals are not yet in effect and that the current rules governing the H-2B program remain in place. In the meantime, there will be a 30-day comment period. Once public comments are received and reviewed, we will finalize and publish the rule with an effective date.

With that in mind, I look forward to your comments and feedback and appreciate your interest in the Leadership Journal.

Jonathan Scharfen,
Acting Director, US Citizenship & Immigration Services

Processing Questions

I’ve been reading—absorbing the more than 400 comments you left from my last Journal entry. You’ve asked many questions—mostly about our processing times, wait times for visa approvals, and how we’re responding to the record number of applications we received last year.

But most of all, you want to know when USCIS will complete your case. Let me try to address some of your concerns.

After visiting local USCIS offices around the country and reviewing our current production statistics, I am confident USCIS will beat our projected 13- to 15-month processing estimate for completing naturalization applications filed after June 1, 2007—while we continue to improve processing times for other applications and petitions. Next month, we will provide you with a detailed report with updated processing times for all USCIS offices.

Our employees are hard at work every day, including evenings and weekends, processing files and interviewing applicants. The results of their efforts show tremendous productivity. I am optimistic that USCIS will exceed our goal of completing more than 1 million naturalization applications this fiscal year, which ends September 30, compared to last year’s 748,000 naturalization cases. And so far, applications received have been lower than normal this year. If that continues, we’ll bring processing times down further than we projected.

Many of you also asked about the processing times displayed at http://www.uscis.gov/, and why the dates sometimes go backward rather than forward. We estimate those dates based on a formula that calculates, among other things, the number of cases received within a defined period, how many cases we’ve completed during that time period, and how many cases remain in process that are [*] beyond our established processing time goals. Sometimes the flow of cases received and completed changes during a specific period in a way that shifts the date backwards. The processing timeframes shown on our webpage reflect applications just completed. So the page is only a tool for customers to estimate our current processing times.

In addition, the average processing times posted on our website do not take into account the many issues that may arise when a particular case is under review. For example, sometimes a USCIS officer may need to ask for additional information before a final decision can be made. If your case has been delayed beyond our posted processing times and you have not been asked for additional information, we encourage you to call our customer service line at 1-800-375-5283 to inquire about the status of your case.

Some of you also asked about the long wait for employment-based visas. The law limits how many people can immigrate in these employment based preference categories each year. That determines how many cases we can complete and often establishes how many new cases we can accept. To complicate matters, demand often far exceeds that supply. To assist applicants who are awaiting those visas, we will soon begin to issue Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) that are valid for 2 years for certain applicants who filed an application to adjust their status to permanent resident but are still awaiting an immigrant visa number.

Others have asked why petitions for their relatives take so long to process. Usually, it’s because an immigrant visa simply isn’t available. More than 1 million petitions to sponsor a relative are still awaiting visas. USCIS must manage our work based on the number of visas allowed by law. To change that, Congress would have to amend the law. No USCIS employee wants to keep a family apart or withhold proof of eligibility to work, but we must work within the requirements set by law.

Our current immigration system challenges us with backlogs on a regular basis. During the past fiscal year, we’ve begun to make improvements that will permanently eliminate future backlogs, including hiring additional employees, instituting new business processes and technology, and creating a new employee culture focused on professional training and development.

Will we succeed overnight? No. Making these changes—the right way—will take longer than my tenure as Acting Director. Nonetheless, we’re committed to making them sooner rather than later.

Thanks for taking time to read this entry.

Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen
Acting Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

[* update: Changed "our" to "are."]

We're Listening

Last month, former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Emilio Gonzalez discussed an editorial printed in the New York Times about USCIS’ recent application backlog--and it generated more interest from readers than any other Leadership Journal entry to date, both in terms of the numbers of readers and posted comments.

I am not surprised. We all appreciate that immigration benefits granted by USCIS, including citizenship, employment authorization, and permanent residency for immigrants and their families, are incredibly important to you--our customers and stakeholders--and our nation. We also know that our business processes are not always transparent or easily understood—they are admittedly complex. In this Journal entry, I’ll try to address some of your comments.

Many comments dealt with the surge in applications that took place after USCIS announced its new fees. After a long, in-depth review of our financial situation, we increased our fees last summer. We had to. USCIS is almost completely funded by fees, and the agency was not meeting its obligations or operating costs under the old fee structure.

To meet those obligations, we needed to invest in new facilities and technology and build our staff to improve the service our customers deserve, knowing it would take some time to accomplish. These things do. We needed to ensure funds were actually coming in the door before hiring thousands of new employees or making investments in technology.

We expected an increase in filings prior to the fee increase, but not nearly the volume of filings we received. We did not foresee the impact of the national discussion on immigration reform, or gauge the impact of an overwhelmingly effective drive by community-based organizations to encourage immigrants to file for citizenship.

Now that the fee increase is generating needed revenue, we’re hiring and training 1,334 new adjudications officers and 521 new support staff – totaling 1,855 new USCIS employees, many of whom are already on board. We’ve shifted existing employees where that made sense, moved work where capacity was available. We are rehiring retired, experienced employees, and are developing new facilities to better serve customers. We’re even conducting interviews, where needed, on Saturdays, Sundays and after normal business hours.

At the same time, we’ve embarked on a joint plan with the FBI to eliminate the name check backlog. By providing additional funds to increase the FBI’s capacity to conduct name checks, we’ll eliminate the name check backlog by the end of next summer.

As a result of these combined efforts, we are now naturalizing new citizens at record levels. But just as important as what we are doing to address the surge in naturalization applications is what we are not doing: we are not compromising the quality or national security in processing these increased applications.

Again, thank you for reading and responding to USCIS’ previous Leadership Journal entry, and for reading this one. I look forward to reading your comments. This Journal is an excellent way to communicate with our stakeholders, and one that we intend to continue.

Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen
Acting Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

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Fit to Print?

The Times got it wrong again. I feel compelled to set the record straight for 17,000 employees who work late nights and weekends to welcome lawful immigrants into our society. I will not stand idly by as the New York Times insults the dedicated and professional services they provide.

If the Times seeks to add legitimacy to its editorial, they should first get the facts straight. USCIS received more than 600,000 applications for citizenship in June and July of 2007 - a 350 percent increase from the same time the year before. While this surge was substantial, it isn’t close to the “perhaps a million empty promises” the Times suggests.

Further, all applications received during that time have been opened, issued receipts, and entered into our processing queue. The idea that there are “envelopes with large checks and money orders, delivered by truckloads, waiting in shrink-wrapped pallets, unopened” at any USCIS facility, is an outright fabrication, hastily conceived by an imaginative writer.

What the writer failed to mention, and what I personally conveyed to the Times, is that more than half of all the citizenship applications received in June and July will be completed by September 30. Further, many of the applicants who filed for citizenship after July 2007 have already been naturalized. The writer also omitted that not withstanding our challenges, in 2008 we will process some 20-25 percent more citizenship applications than in 2007, while maintaining the integrity of the immigration system and the security of the process.

The fact is, last year we anticipated an application surge, and dedicated USCIS employees at our Service Centers worked hard and long hours to process the increased number of applications received before fees were raised in July. As a result of their dedication, nearly 750,000 applications were processed in a record amount of time. Instead of commending this effort, the New York Times degraded it, suggesting “intentional disenfranchisement” of Latino voters. That is both absurd and an insult to our workforce.

This agency does not lose focus by such editorial bias. Our workforce will continue to do everything possible to assist immigrants on the path to legal residency or citizenship, facilitate the smooth transit of others who wish to work here temporarily, and safeguard the security of the United States through the integrity of our immigration system. Modernization efforts to build a fully-electronic immigration platform continue to move forward. More than 34 USCIS facilities will be renovated or replaced nationwide, and more than 3,000 new employees will join our ranks by the end of this year. Our professional training programs are varied and robust.

My posting today demonstrates to the more than 700,000 newly naturalized citizens that this country embraces free and open debate. It is a shame, however that a newspaper like the New York Times – which boasts with each paper that it contains all the news that’s fit to print – only values its version of a story and leaves no room for that debate or for the facts.

Emilio T. Gonzalez
Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Our Commitment to Iraqi Refugees

Today, both Senior Advisor for Iraqi Refugees Lori Scialabba and I testified before Congress on welcoming Iraqi refugees to the U.S. Bottom line -- since last spring, more than 3,559 Iraqi refugees have been admitted to our country and we expect many more in the coming months.

Make no mistake that the Iraqi refugee program is a top priority for this department. We are committed to working with the State Department and other program partners to welcome as many eligible Iraqi refugees as possible to the U.S. Every effort will continue to be made to provide protection to qualified refugees from Iraq as we work to ensure that the Iraqi refugee population is not infiltrated by individuals seeking to harm the United States. We have a moral and humanitarian obligation to help the people of Iraq equal to our obligation to also remain vigilant to preserve our national security.

Since the spring of 2007, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officers have interviewed Iraqis in Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Lebanon. During FY2007, USCIS interviewed nearly 4,500 Iraqi refugee applicants; we anticipate that more than 8,400 interviews will have been completed by the end of the first half of FY2008, for a total of over 12,000 interviews to date. We expect both the number of interviews and the number of admitted applicants to rise in the coming months.

In just a few months time, Lori Scialabba, her counterpart at the Department of State – Ambassador James Foley – and all our partners have worked tirelessly to help guide and streamline our efforts to resettle Iraqi refugees in the U.S.

One recent change -- in-country refugee processing in Iraq to offer resettlement to embassy staff and their immediate family members in Baghdad who are at risk of persecution based on their association with the U.S. government. The first group of referrals from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad includes 31 staff and their immediate family members who, if approved, will receive expedited processing.

We currently have 20 USCIS employees in the region performing Iraqi processing and many other employees here in Washington devoting substantial time to this effort. We have also begun new hiring for our Refugee Corps, increasing the base level of 47 positions to 62 this year. Further, we are leveraging more of our Asylum Division employees to conduct interviews; we expect that asylum officers will assist in adjudicating half of the refugee cases we will process this year.

We’re the first to say that there is more work to be done, but important progress is being made. On average, the total processing time for Iraqi cases is significantly less than for any other refugee group worldwide. In fact, Iraqi refugees are able to enter the U.S. in four to six months – certainly much faster than refugees from anywhere else in the world.

We pledge -- along with our State Department colleagues and other partners -- to further the humanitarian mission of admitting Iraqi refugees while at the same time ensuring the highest standards of security for our homeland.

Emilio T. Gonzalez
Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Our Commitment to Military Naturalizations

On February 24, the New York Times published a factually inaccurate front-page article entitled “After the War, a New Battle to Become Citizens” about the commitment U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has made to processing military naturalizations in a timely manner. We intensely manage every aspect of the path to citizenship for our immigrant Armed Forces Service Members. As an American by choice and a veteran myself, this program has my close personal attention, and I can tell you that it is a real success story for our agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and our nation.

In 2007 alone, USCIS naturalized 4,735 military service members, with more than 1,300 taking the Oath of Allegiance at ceremonies overseas, in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and along the Demilitarized Zone in South Korea. Since 2001, USCIS has helped more than 36,900 immigrant soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines become United States citizens. These service members and their families have made extraordinary sacrifices for our nation, and USCIS does everything possible to ensure that qualified immigrants who serve in our military receive U.S. citizenship at the absolute earliest opportunity.

Despite exhaustive efforts to fulfill our obligation to our men and women in uniform, there are rare instances when we are unable to favorably approve their applications in an expedited time frame. Service members frequently move from post to post, sometimes internationally. Therefore, gathering the information necessary to process their applications requires additional time, notwithstanding the significant efforts employed by USCIS to ensure that applications are handled in a timely and expeditious manner. Let me say this, nothing stands in our way when it comes to supporting the military. We move mountains and travel to military installations worldwide to help members of the military in their quest to become citizens of the United States. This is the least we can do on behalf of a nation grateful for their service.

Working with the Department of Defense (DoD), we have, through these military naturalization efforts, cut in half the number of non-citizens serving on active duty. But numbers alone cannot tell the story of the USCIS commitment. USCIS has a specialized team at our Nebraska Service Center dedicated to processing military naturalization cases. Once the up-front processing is complete, dedicated specialists in our field offices complete the interview and testing for military naturalization -- a privilege our employees consider an honor. These immigration experts work tirelessly to ensure that applications are processed and completed before these brave men and women are deployed to combat zones overseas.

As of May 1, 2006, we began accepting fingerprints from service members submitted at the time of enlistment. This upfront intake of information has helped streamline the process for service members. In addition, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will expedite background security screening for any service member who notifies us of an impending deployment.

To improve communication and outreach with the armed forces community, USCIS recently established a dedicated toll-free hotline exclusively for military members and their families stationed in the United States and overseas. Through January 2008, we’ve responded to more than 7,200 calls requesting information about immigration and citizenship services. USCIS also accepts emails to ensure that the military, some of whom are stationed overseas, can find the most expeditious way to communicate with USCIS about their pending applications. Additional efforts include local initiatives in communities with large military populations, the development and dissemination of educational materials, a USCIS military brochure and targeted media efforts designed to reach our constituents both in the United States and overseas.

In all of our military naturalization efforts, we work in concert with our colleagues at DoD to ensure that the military community has accurate and up-to-date information about immigration services and benefits. We provide training to military lawyers, and USCIS community relations officers regularly conduct seminars and classes at military bases around the country, answering questions about naturalization and assisting with paperwork.

I am proud and extremely honored to serve this agency in support of our military men and women and their families. USCIS has always been, is now, and will remain steadfastly committed to exhausting every effort to ensure that the processing of military naturalization applications are a top priority and that qualified members of the military receive this honor on behalf of a grateful nation.

Emilio T. González

Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Our Commitment to National Security

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is committed to protecting national security as we go about our mission of providing the most fair and transparent immigration service possible to our customers.

Let me repeat just one part of that phrase to remove all ambiguity – we are committed to protecting national security. USCIS will never put expediency ahead of national security.

Recently, we modified our policy regarding the adjudication of applications for permanent residence, commonly know as green card status. USCIS will favorably adjudicate those applications where the cases are otherwise fully approvable and FBI name-check requests have been pending for more than 180 days. These cases will not be approved unless the applicants are otherwise eligible and have cleared the FBI fingerprint check and the Interagency Border Inspection System (IBIS) check. In the unlikely event that the FBI name check produces actionable information against an applicant, DHS will initiate removal proceedings.

This is not only good business, but it is also the right thing to do. The policy change better aligns the background check screening processes between DHS agencies. It’s worth noting that 99 percent of all FBI name check results are received within six months. Through process improvements, we fully expect all name-check results to be obtained within that period by the end of this year.

There is no change to the normal background scrutiny conducted on every application for any immigration benefit. All applications are checked through IBIS to gather information from a multitude of law enforcement agencies. It should also be noted that there has been no change to the name-check policy pertaining to naturalization applications.

As a department and as an agency, we are committed to providing immigration benefits and services as quickly as possible to eligible applicants. But, let’s be clear -- we will not shortcut our procedures or processes to the detriment of immigration integrity or national security.

Emilio T. Gonzalez
Director, USCIS

An Immigration Enforcement Tool That Works - For Everyone

Most employers tell us that they don’t want to hire illegal workers. They just aren’t always sure how to tell who’s legal and who’s not. That is where E-Verify comes in. It’s a free and voluntary program that lets employers quickly check the status of new employees online.

E-Verify is an enormous success. It works to make sure the workers’ name and social security number match, and that noncitizen workers are authorized to work. The system is good at keeping illegal workers out of the workplace. About 5% of all the workers who are checked by the system cannot establish that they are authorized to work in the United States. Most of them walk away when they are challenged, even though it’s easy for legal workers to fix their out-of-date information in the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) database. (Actually, it’s not just easy. It’s a really good idea and will help legal workers get Social Security benefits more quickly if they are hurt on the job or when they retire).

What about legal workers? We don’t want to make getting a new job more difficult than it should be. Here too, the story is a good one. For 98% of the workers who are actually authorized to work in the US, the system returns an instant green light – not even a data mismatch to update. Put another way, for practically everyone except the 5% who aren’t legal, E-Verify provides instant verification. No hassles, no sweat, no window for discrimination. Of course, getting to this point has taken a lot of sweat on the part of DHS. We asked Westat, a respected research firm, to do independent evaluations of E-Verify five years ago and again this year, and the Westat evaluation showed that the “instant green light” rate has risen exponentially in those years, thanks largely to improvements in DHS records.

We’re not resting on our laurels, though. We’re working to get from 98 to 99% or higher. We won’t get to 100% because the 2% of work authorized new hires who get a “yellow light” often have forgotten to update their Social Security record. Perhaps they didn’t tell Social Security when they became a U.S. citizen, or when they married and changed their name. Since that’s a problem that needs to be fixed, some would say that they should be pushed into fixing it. However, we are trying to reduce even those cases. Our newest enhancement will allow E-Verify to check naturalization records electronically, even for people who have never notified Social Security of their new status. (The Westat report does not mention this enhancement, since it will not be implemented for another month or so.)

Early next year, we also will provide a 1-800 number to resolve SSA “yellow lights”, which will eliminate time-consuming personal visits to government offices. As an even longer-term improvement, we plan to regularly update the SSA database with naturalized citizen data to prevent mismatches in the future. In addition, we will continue to bring more of our records on line, so that no worker gets a “yellow light” because our records are not up to date; that effort is also underway.

At the same time, we are improving the enforcement capabilities of E-Verify. In order to prevent illegal workers from simply stealing the name and Social Security number of a legal worker, we are putting photos on line, so employers will see the photo that should be on the ID the worker presents.

As a result of these changes, E-Verify is a remarkable success story. The number of employers using it has doubled in each of the last few years, and enrollments are increasing by a thousand employers a week.

It’s an iron law of Washington, though, that if you actually take immigration enforcement seriously, you’re going to make a lot of powerful interests angry. And so it’s not a surprise that the success of E-Verify has engendered a big increase in criticism.

Probably the most aggravating claim, made in a recent article by a business lobbyist, is that E-Verify could increase discrimination against immigrants. I don’t understand why a business representative would accuse his own industry of being prone to discrimination, but even if that’s so, E-Verify won’t make employers more likely to discriminate. In fact, the Westat report found that employers using E-Verify said they were more willing to hire foreign-born workers, not less. Rather than promoting discrimination, E-Verify is actually becoming a safeguard against discrimination, because it objectively verifies the employment authorization of foreign-born workers who might otherwise be the subject of subjective guesses about employment eligibility.

Stewart A. Baker
Assistant Secretary for Policy