Politics

The U.S. government presented Monday E-Verify Self Check, an online service that will enable workers to check their own immigration status and correct any errors on their documents.

The service will be launched initially in Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Mississippi, Virginia and the District of Columbia, and extended to 16 other states next year, the Department of Homeland Security said.

The authorities aim to make the Self Check service available nationwide in the future.

"E-Verify is a smart, simple, and effective tool that allows us to work with employers to help them maintain a legal workforce," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. "The E-Verify Self Check service will help protect workers and streamline the E-Verify process for businesses."

Napolitano said that illegal immigration in the United States is chiefly a problem of supply and demand on the labor market, but that the U.S. government is committed to stopping undocumented immigrants from being hired.

E-Verify Self Check is a "voluntary, free, fast and secure service" that gives users the opportunity to submit corrections of any inaccuracies in their Homeland Security and Social Security Administration records before seeking employment, DHS said.

U.S. authorities have expanded E-Verify's capabilities with measures to prevent passport fraud, since it now compares photos on these documents with those in the State Department database.

In fiscal year 2009, E-Verify processed more than 8.7 million requests by employers to check the validity of immigration and Social Security documents.

Participation in E-Verify is voluntary for most companies, but is obligatory for those receiving contracts from the federal government.

Making E-Verify mandatory for all employers would require an act of Congress.

Since being put into effect, E-Verify has not escaped controversy. Pro-reform groups insist that the system is not exempt from errors and that in the end it harms people who are duly authorized to work in this country.

"The development of E-Verify Self Check reflects our commitment to the continual improvement of the E-Verify program," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas said.

E-Verify is accurate in 96 percent of cases, he said.

E-Verify is currently used by some 255,021 companies, according to the USCIS.

So far in fiscal year 2011, which began Oct. 1, E-Verify has received some 7 million data searches, Mayorkas said.

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