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struggle4progress

(124,586 posts) Mon Sep 1, 2025, 11:51 PM Sep 1

ICE's arrest of a Maine police officer raises new questions about E-Verify

Aug 29, 2025 12:53 PM EDT

OLD ORCHARD BEACH, Maine (AP) — The case of a Maine police officer arrested by immigration authorities even though he was vetted by a government system called “E-Verify” has raised questions about what employers can do to make sure they’re employing people who can legally work.

E-Verify is an online system that compares information entered by an employer from an employee’s documents with records available to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration. It’s used to determine the employment eligibility of citizens and noncitizens.

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin accused Old Orchard Beach, Maine, of “reckless reliance” on the E-Verify program when it hired Jamaica national Jon Luke Evans, who was later detained and agreed to leave the country earlier this month.

But it’s the government’s own program. And experts say there’s not a whole lot more employers can do in terms of vetting ...

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/employers-have-used-e-verify-for-years-ices-arrest-of-a-maine-police-officer-raises-new-questions

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ICE's arrest of a Maine police officer raises new questions about E-Verify (Original Post) struggle4progress Sep 1 OP

They don't care that the system mostly does work caraher Sep 2 #1

caraher

(6,348 posts)

1. They don't care that the system mostly does work

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Tue Sep 2, 2025, 03:04 AM

Sep 2

As an employer you either use E-Verify or do essentially the same verification with the I-9 form. The main difference is that E-Verify potentially gives the feds more access to your employee records; my organization prefers not to risk that so we stick to paper processing of I-9s. Either way, prospective employees need to produce the same sets of documents establishing employment eligibility.

"Going beyond" E-Verify or the documentation required for the I-9 is an unworkable, terrible idea. It places hiring offices in the position of, in effect, creating ad hoc conditions of employment, and potentially exposes them to discrimination lawsuits they are likely to lose. You can't be selective - you can't subject to extra scrutiny some but not all potential employees because it can create the appearance that you are singling out some for illegitimate reasons (and let's be realistic, that would probably be the case in most instances!).

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