Nation’s legal-worker verification system flops

When it comes to verifying a worker’s legal status to be hired for a job in the United States, one thing seems to be increasingly clear: the current system is not working.

Recent immigration raids conducted in Iowa and Mississippi – and the raid on the Swift slaughter-and-packing facility in Greeley in December 2006 – have shown that illegal workers are continuing to be hired under the federal government’s E-Verify program that began 11 years ago as the Basic Pilot Program.

Nearly 400 immigrant workers were arrested in May at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa. Owners of Agriprocessors Inc. were charged earlier this month with more than 9,000 misdemeanors for allegedly employing 32 illegal-immigrant children under 18, including seven who were younger than 16. The charges allege the children were handling dangerous equipment and exposed to toxic chemicals.

“All of the named defendants possessed shared knowledge that Agriprocessors employed undocumented aliens,” the arrest affidavit said, according to a story by the Associated Press.

Forgery encouraged

The Iowa Attorney General’s office said the company encouraged job applicants to submit forged identification documents that contained false information about their resident status, age and identity, according to the report.

While Iowa does not allow the hiring of illegal workers, it is a state that does not require the use of the federal E-Verify program, and some might argue that if it did have E-Verify the situation might not have happened. Currently, E-Verify is largely a voluntary program that is supposed to match documents submitted by new hires against federal Social Security and other data bases.

But Mississippi is one of three states – along with Arizona and South Carolina – that requires employers to use E-Verify. Howard Industries, an electrical products manufacturer in Laurel, Miss., was raided in August by U.S. Immigration and Customs officials and 595 workers were arrested and charged with identity theft and fraudulent use of Social Security numbers.

Howard Industries had been using E-Verify for more than a year.

And Northern Colorado was hit with its own ICE raid in December 2006 when nearly 1,200 workers at the Swift plant in Greeley were arrested on identity theft charges. Swift was then using and continues to use E-Verify to check its new hires.

Colorado, like Iowa and most other states, has taken its own approach in trying to make sure employers don’t hire illegal workers. In July 2006, Gov. Bill Owens signed House Bill 1017, which requires employers to comply with federal employment verification requirements or face fines of up to $25,000. However, the measure did not specify using the E-Verify program.

Illinois example

One state that has gone very much its own way is Illinois. In 2007, the Illinois legislature amended the state’s Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act to prohibit employers from enrolling in Basic Pilot/E-Verify “until the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security databases are able to make a determination on 99 percent of the tentative non-confirmation notices issued to employers within three days.”

The law was supposed to take effect on Jan. 1 of this year but the Department of Homeland Security filed a lawsuit against the state of Illinois to block it. The law is still on hold as legal proceedings go on.

“The status of the E-Verify case is presently stayed awaiting pending (federal) legislation,´ said Natalie Bauer, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Attorney General’s office. “The state has agreed not to enforce that particular part of the law until there is a resolution of the case.”

Supporters of the Illinois law were responding to criticisms of Basic Pilot/E-Verify that claim the system is seriously flawed because it sometimes fails to correctly match Social Security numbers or often isn’t able to spot stolen numbers.

Those criticisms seem to be valid, given the large numbers of illegal workers who continue to find jobs in states and companies using the still-mostly-voluntary E-Verify system and even in states – like Mississippi – where it is mandatory.

Federal mandate

But still the federal government – through the Department of Homeland Security and the strong support of President George Bush – continues to push for increased use of E-Verify as the answer to the nation’s illegal worker problem. Bush signed an executive order on June 6 requiring all federal contractors to use E-Verify.

In July, an amendment to the FY 2009 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill was added to extend E-Verify past its Nov. 30, 2008 expiration date. The program has not yet been officially renewed.

But Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary, continues to claim that E-Verify is the best way to stem the flow of illegal workers – and possible terrorists – from illegally obtaining work in America and undermining the nation’s immigration system and its homeland security.

“Congress has repeatedly acknowledged that rampant document and identity fraud has significantly undermined the existing system for stopping illegal workers from getting jobs, and E-Verify is the best available way for employers to ensure their workforce is legally authorized to work,” Chertoff said in a press release.

If only that was true.

Steve Porter covers agribusiness for the Business Report. He can be reached at 970-221-5400, Ext. 225, or at sporter@ncbr.com.

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