Washington – Businesses will find it difficult to be sure all their employees have the legal right to work unless there are major upgrades to the government’s system for checking their status, a Colorado employer told a U.S. House subcommittee Tuesday.
The system for confirming that workers are legal residents only verifies that a Social Security number is valid, said Jack Shandley, senior vice president at Greeley-based Swift & Co.
That system fails to tell a business whether a Social Security number actually belongs to that worker, Shandley said, or if it was stolen.
“That same Social Security number could be in use at another employer, and potentially multiple employers, across the country,” Shandley said. “Employers have no foolproof way to determine if a new hire is presenting valid identification documents created under fraudulent circumstances.”
Shandley spoke before the subcommittee on Workforce, Empowerment & Government Programs, chaired by Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo.
The hearing examined requirements that would be put on employers under immigration measures being considered by Congress. One of those requirements is that a voluntary system for verifying workers’ status – now used by 10,000 businesses – would become mandatory for the nation’s 7 million employers.
Swift & Co., which employs 15,000 people domestically and 20,000 worldwide, uses the voluntary system. Another 206 Colorado businesses do as well, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Robert Divine, acting deputy director of CIS, told the subcommittee that the government is upgrading its system. In the future, he said, the system should be able to detect if the same Social Security number is being used in multiple locations.
A 2005 Government Accountability Office report found that the voluntary program is not equipped to handle the increase in participation required under a House-passed immigration bill, U.S. Chamber of Commerce director of immigration policy Angelo Amador said.
Musgrave voted for the House immigration bill, which would beef up border security, increase penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants and hike penalties for living in the U.S. illegally. She opposes any legal status for illegal immigrants, calling it amnesty.
She conceded there’s some “natural conflict” between her beliefs that illegal immigration must cease and her concern about the burden meeting that goal will place on employers.
“A sovereign nation should secure its borders,” she said. “Enforcement has to come first.”
At the same time, Musgrave said she’s concerned about what the new rules would mean for small businesses, saying there should be “ample time” to come into compliance.
There is great skepticism that any new requirements on employers will take effect soon. The House and Senate immigration bills are very different and must be merged in a conference committee.
House leaders are delaying that step by taking the unusual move of holding hearings – including some across the country – after legislation has passed.
Musgrave, along with Rep. Bob Beauprez and Sen. Wayne Allard, both R-Colo., sent a letter Tuesday to the sponsor of the House legislation asking that one of those hearings be held in Colorado.
Staff writer Anne C. Mulkern can be reached at 202-662-8907 or amulkern@denverpost.com.
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