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Schumer Proposes New Mandatory Electronic Employment Verification

Posted April 29, 2010 by Patrick Young, Esq.
Categories: Federal Immigration Policy

I have posted elsewhere about the new Social Security card envisioned by the Schumer comprehensive immigration reform proposal. The new card will be machine-readable and will be the final word on whether someone is employment authorized.

Schumer expects new job hires to present the card to an employer who will swipe it in a special card reader. Here is how Schumer’s proposal describes the process:

Prospective employees will present a machine-readable, fraud proof, biometric Social Security card to their employers, who will swipe the cards through a card-reader to confirm the cardholder’s identity and work authorization. The cardholder’s work authorization will be verified by matching a digital encryption key contained within the card to a digital encryption key contained within the work authorization database being searched. The cardholder’s identity will be verified by matching the biometric identifier stored within the micro-processing chip on the card to the identifier provided by the cardholder that shall be read by the scanner used by the employer.

Schumer is calling this new system Biometric Enrollment, Locally-stored Information, and Electronic Verification of Employment (BELIEVE).

The BELIEVE system is expected to be up and fully operational within eight years of enactment of the immigration reform law. All employers in the United States will be required to participate and those failing to do so will be subject to employer sanctions.

The card reading machines will be available for purchase by employers. They will also be available for free use at post offices.

Tags : e-verify, employer sanctions, immigration reform, schumer

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