Peter Roskam Not Telling the Truth About E-Verify

Yesterday, Peter Roskam’s web site published a “news item” commenting on the State of Illinois’ agreement to allow employers to use E-Verify to validate employee work authorization, while a federal lawsuit against the State is resolved.

According to Roskam the E-Verify system “provides real-time, accurate verification based on identity information in federal databases, giving employers assurance that the people they hire are legally able to work in the U.S.”.

But in reality, the database has been found to be inaccurate and fails to meet the standards set by Congress.

Imposition of the use of E-Verify will have adverse effects on Illinois workers. As many as 1 in 10 workers with authorization to work may be denied employment due to inaccuracies in the database. This may include workers who are U.S. citizens as well as aliens with authorization to work. Others will lose wages while waitinging for verification by alternate means after E-Verify returns a false negative. In addition, Hispanic citizens and legal aliens alike are likely to face increased discrimination in employmet due to the inconvenience and expense to employers of being required to use E-verify. Employers will likely avoid hiring workers who they believe might have a negative finding on E-verify, requiring additional work to verify the screening results.

It is sad that Roskam does not care about protecting the right-to-work for all of his constituents, that he seems to think the boundaries to his district lie at the city limits of Wheaton and Glen Ellyn. And it is sad that Roskam won’t tell the truth about E-Verify.