Budget Cuts Hit E-Verify
Anti-fraud enhancements for a worker identification tool that is considered key to immigration reform might be postponed because of blanket funding cuts that began this month.
If there is any consensus on how to handle the nation's 11 million undocumented aliens, it is that employers should be required to confirm their foreign hires are eligible to work using an accurate E-Verify system. E-Verify is a website that lets organizations voluntarily check employees’ personal information, including Social Security numbers, against federal databases to confirm immigration status.
Last month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials testified at a House hearing that USCIS is developing an E-Verify function this year that will allow employees "to lock their SSNs" so ineligible foreigners cannot mooch off of stolen identities.
But this week, agency officials said that might not happen.
Unlike most USCIS systems, which are funded by immigrants who pay for services, E-Verify is funded by Congress. And Congress earlier this month initiated government wide budget cuts known as sequestration to rein in federal spending.
http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2013/03/budget-cuts-hit-e-verify/62087/?oref=ng-HPtopstory