Houston Chronicle | Jul 21, 2009
By STEWART M. POWELL and SUSAN CARROLL
WASHINGTON — Some illegal immigrants with stolen Social Security numbers are able to gain clearance for employment in the United States even after being checked through the federal government’s pioneering online E-Verify system, senators and the Migration Policy Institute warned Tuesday.
The senators, led by Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, and the well-known think tank said the loophole must be closed before Congress undertakes comprehensive immigration reform and before the Department of Homeland Security requires federal contractors and recipients of economic stimulus funds to use the federal employment verification system.
“The American public will not put faith in us again if we pass immigration reform without an effective, accurate and enforced employer verification program,” declared Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee panel with jurisdiction over immigration, border security and citizenship.
Schumer called for 10 improvements to existing employee verification, led by requiring biometric proof of identity such as fingerprints or enhanced face-reading biometric photographs.
‘Gaping hole’ in E-Verify
The current E-Verify system is “an example of a half hearted and flawed system,” Schumer said at the subcommittee hearing, noting that it does not prevent an illegal immigrant from using the name, Social Security number and address of a U.S. citizen.
Marc Rosenblum, a senior policy analyst with the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, based in Washington, D.C., said a “gaping hole” in E-Verify fails to detect identity fraud.
The voluntary E-Verify system enables employers to submit the names and Social Security numbers of prospective hires to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration to verify immigration and employment status.
A total of 137,463 employers are using E-Verify from 517,000 employment sites, including 7,043 employers in Texas.
The program is about to expand to require mandatory E-Verify employment checks by private companies awarded government contracts and firms receiving money from the $787 billion economic stimulus package.
Mike Aytes, acting deputy director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency that handles E-Verify, told the committee federal authorities are working to provide prospective employers identification photographs beyond just the photographs generated by immigration agencies to help employers verify applicants’ identities.
“This would represent a significant enhancement to the system, since new hires most often present a driver’s license for (employment eligibility verification) purposes,” Aytes said.
1 response so far ↓
brittanicus // August 3, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Millions of illegal immigrants broke the laws of a sovereign nation! We must go after the purveyors who attract these, poor uneducated people! To be honest I’m fed up with supporting any person, who crosses the border, stays on an expired tourist visa. The corporate world have for decades, dumped these people on the doorstep of Taxpayers. We, as Americans cannot even access, half the benefits that are handed to illegals on a free platter. Don’t let the fumblers in Washington weaken E-Verify–part of the SAVE ACT. Politicians must not dissolve such local police laws as 287(g) or severely cut back on lightening raids by ICE. As you read this commentary we have the US chamber of Commerce, ACLU, The Council of Foreign Relations and a whole retinue of business concerns, who don’t believe they should be dictated to–BY A LARGE SLICE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Our laws have been manipulated for the benefit of ruthless organizations, who runs on profiteering and corruption, with the big fat dollar bill. Alas, it has become–THEM–against us. YES! To a orderly points system for the ultra skilled immigrant, who does not feed at the public welfare trough? But–NO–to the poor, uneducated–who cannot support themselves or their larger families. We must build on the technological illegal worker extraction process called E-Verify. We must rigidly penalize all employers who refuse to follow immigration enforcement. There must be adequate funding to construct more deterrents in the SAVE ACT, to make it impossible for illegal labor to fraudulently bypass E-Verify. We can no longer afford to be a welfare country, for anybody who enters the United States.
The usual imbeciles in the Democratic leadership, Reid, Pelosi, Feinstein and most you can guess for yourself. Now if the Democratic health care package goes through–TAXPAYERS WE WILL STILL BE UNDERWRITING all the foreigners that businesses can use. There is a sordid conspiracy going on with a group called “IMMIGRATIONWORKSUSA” brought and paid for by corporate–CHEAP LABOR–executives.DON’T LISTEN TO WHAT THEY SUPPOSEDLY INSPIRE. This group wants the Free movement of foreign labor, across our border without any restrictions All the truth, without the lies at NUMBERSUSA. DO NOT STOP HARASSING THE LAWMAKERS, AS YOUR CALLS ARE REALLY WORKING. Contact your lawmaker TODAY! at 202-224-3121 INFORM ICE IF YOU KNOW OF A PARASITE BUSINESS, UTILIZING ILLEGAL LABOR.