According to the Wall Street Journal, an independent report commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found that E-Verify, the federal electronic employment verification system, may be failing to detect 54% of unauthorized workers processed. According to the 338-page report (pdf), E-Verify experienced difficulty confirming that workers’ identities were their own. The purported reason: identity theft.

The stated failure rate is misleading, according to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) synopsis (pdf) of the results. USCIS, a unit of DHS, contends that, overall, E-Verify’s accuracy rate was 96% and that only 6.2% of verifications processed concerned unauthorized workers. Accordingly, only 3.3% of total queries concerned unauthorized workers who were misidentified as authorized.

USCIS says it is actively working to lower the possibility of false positives by:

• partnering with states on data-sharing initiatives;
• developing methods for uncovering stolen identities and preventing them from being used for E-Verify purposes; and
• adding more photographs to the system. Currently, E-Verify’s Photo Tool checks applicants against green card and employment authorization document photographs. In fiscal year 2010, U.S. passport photos will be added, and USCIS is working to also add visa photographs.