Quick, free service spots job seekers' fake papers

Arizona Daily Star

At the meat-processing plants of Bar-S Foods, rumors of impending raids by immigration agents once sent illegal workers fleeing to avoid deportation.

"It made for a very unstable work force," said Marty Thompson, the company's vice president of human resources.

The sudden loss of workers and random immigration audits prompted the Phoenix-based company to sign up for a federal program that detects fake documents commonly used to get work.

The company, part of an industry that has long attracted its share of workers living in the country illegally, became one of the first to test the Basic Pilot Employment Verification System.

The voluntary program, which debuted eight years ago in five states, allows employers to check the legitimacy of personal data from potential hires through a government Web site.
Chris Bentley, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the verification system is a quick way for employers to get a handle on the problem of fake documents. In a matter of seconds, companies can check employee documents against Social Security and Homeland Security databases.

It was 19 years ago that Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which outlawed the employment of illegal immigrants and created fines for employers who knowingly hire them. The law, which mandated that employers check for worker eligibility[I-9 form] but not that they authenticate workers' documents, quickly spawned a cottage industry of inexpensive counterfeit Social Security and permanent-residency cards.

Immigration reform plans put forth recently in Washington attempt to address the problem of fake documents. One bill, introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and another introduced by Republican Sens. Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas, both call for a mechanism through which employers can verify the legal status of new employees.

Thompson said his company simply submits a Social Security number on the secure government Web site. If a job applicant is providing false information, it's rejected almost immediately.

this is one of the things that is really frustrating about the illegal immigration system. I was an employer when this rule first came out to verify that you have the "right to work in the United States" with the INS I-9 immigration form. I thought it was very interesting that I did not have to send this form to anybody, but just keep it on file "just in case" I was ever inspected.

I liked the idea of a service that will verify Social Security numbers from employers pointed view and I think that more companies should be encouraged to use a verification system.