When E-Verify was first introduced, I said that it would not help in discovering illegal immigrants. Turns out I’m right again and the government didn’t think their plan through. The government is now thinking of using the credit agency Equifax to help shore up the E-Verify program in an attempt to salvage what’s left of the program.

The plan by the Department of Homeland Security, which is still preliminary and would probably require congressional approval, could have far-reaching consequences. The government already allows employers to check the legal status of employees using a system known as E-Verify, but hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants beat the system by using stolen Social Security numbers.

Well, who would have thought of that? Oh right. That was me.

If workers had to use the verification systems in place to apply for a mortgage or a bank account, they would not only have to present a Social Security number to an employer, but also answer questions about their personal history and financial background to establish their identity.

You can’t ask about personal history or financial backgrounds during the job application and interviewing process. It violates federal law.

On Monday, the government announced that it would begin allowing individuals in the District, Virginia and four other states to voluntarily use a system provided by Equifax to verify their identity. Once they did that, they could access a federal database to verify their authorization to work. The move will help the small number of legally authorized immigrants and U.S. citizens who encounter problems each year when an employer runs their Social Security numbers through the E-Verify system.

The voluntary program will be piloted in the District, Virginia, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho and Mississippi. It will be expanded nationwide in the coming months.

These problems, according to the government are minor issues such as spelling mistakes.

Since House republicans want the E-Verify system to be mandatory instead of voluntary, it’s probably a good idea for the government to fix the problems of a nearly useless system before instituting it as a mandate. By using Equifax, the government is hoping to circumvent the privacy protections upon employment, mainly those that use financial figures, credit scores, and personal details, that are otherwise illegal to ask when applying for a job.