The nation’s top immigration official has come to the defense of the oft-criticized E-Verify federal system last week, Cox News Services reports.  Jonathan Scharfen, acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law amid concern the system could reject legal citizens. "E-Verify is the best available tool for employers to gain quick and easy verification information for their new hires," said Scharfen.  

Scharfen said that the 69,000 businesses currently are using the optional E-Verify program, and that 99.5% of all people authorized to work are verified immediately.  Democratic lawmakers questioned this statistic, pointing to a study last year by a DHS study that showed about 10% of naturalized citizens received a ‘mismatch’ from the system, often because they had not updated their citizenship status.   

Regardless of the discrepancies in the error rates, millions of US citizens and legal residents could be initially rejected for work if the program is implemented nationwide, said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill).  This echoes concern expressed by immigration advocates; Timothy Sparapani, senior legislative counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union, warned that the system in it’s current state would entangle workers in a "massive knot of government red tape and bungling bureaucracy to get hired and resolve inevitable data errors."  

A transcript of the subcommittee hearing is available at http://judiciary.house.gov/oversight.aspx?ID=449.

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This month, a federal judge blocked parts of an Oklahoma law targeting undocumented immigrants, holding that the measures were unconstitutional.  The Associated Press reports that US District Judge Robin J Cauthron issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of provisions of the state law that subjects employers to penalties for failing to comply with a federal employee verification system.  

The decision came on a lawsuit filed by the US Chamber of Commerce, the Oklahoma Chamber, and other business groups, who argued that the electronic verification system is voluntary under federal law and that employers should not be subjected to state penalties.  "Through harsh civil penalties, the Oklahoma law unfairly shifts the burden of immigration enforcement onto the backs of business," Robin Conrad, executive vice president of the US Chamber, said in a statement.  

The provisions in effect since November prohibit undocumented immigrants from receiving assistance from tax-funded programs and make it a state crime to transport or harbor undocumented immigrant, a provision loudly contested by social agencies that work with the immigrant population.