Immigration

IMMIGRATION -- (Senate - June 09, 2006)

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I note that today the Department of Homeland Security is announcing the publication of a regulation that addresses a deficiency in the work verification process to make sure that only people who can legally work in the United States are capable of doing so. Of course, this is long overdue.

The Senate and the House have both passed immigration bills that would overhaul employment verification laws. Restricting the employment of undocumented workers as a means of reducing illegal immigration is not a new concept. For decades, policymakers have recognized that eliminating the magnet of illegal employment is the key, some might even say the linchpin, to controlling illegal immigration.

In 1981, the bipartisan Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy recommended legislation making it illegal to hire undocumented workers. In 1997, the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform stated that eliminating the employment magnet is the linchpin of a comprehensive strategy to deter unlawful immigration.

The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform went on to conclude that ``the most promising option for verifying work authorization is a computerized registry based on the Social Security number.''

Despite 25 years of consensus, current employment verification laws are unworkable and unenforceable. An employer must review some combination of up to 29 different documents to determine whether a new worker is legal. Document fraud and identity theft have contributed to the problem, making it easier for unscrupulous employers to look the other way and hire unauthorized workers. The employer sanctions provisions that were passed in 1986, which were supposed to be the tradeoff for the amnesty provided to 3 million people--those employer sanctions have been completely ineffective. So while the amnesty was a success in the sense that 3 million people got a pass, the enforcement necessary to avoid another buildup of illegal aliens was never delivered.

As I said at the outset, the Department of Homeland Security is issuing the publication of a regulation today that addresses this deficiency. It is proposing a rule that will help responsible employers ensure that they are not employing individuals who cannot legally work in the United States. When hired, employees in the United States must present documents to their employers to show that they can work here legally. Many people use their Social Security card as one of those documents.

When unauthorized aliens try to defraud their employers by presenting fraudulent identification or Social Security cards, the employers will often receive a ``no match'' letter from the Social Security administration. This ``no match'' letter informs the employer that the name associated with the Social Security number does not match.

Until now, many employers have not known what steps to take upon receiving such a mismatch notice. Many mistakenly believe that they must immediately fire the employee. The absence of clear guidance has frustrated employers and, all too often, legal employees end up losing their jobs because of this confusion. The proposed rule outlines clear steps that employers can take in reaction to receiving ``no match'' letters.

The proposed rule contains a safe harbor for employers.

If businesses follow these procedures in good faith, they can be assured they will not be subject to sanctions.

While the vast majority of employers seek to comply with the law, too many employers turn a blind eye to obvious violations of the law. In fact, a small percentage of employers are responsible for a large percentage of ``no match'' letters. The General Accounting Office reported that between 1985 and the year 2000, only 8,900 employers were responsible for 30 percent of ``no match'' reports.

Some of the other statistics in the General Accounting Office report are even more troubling. Several employers used one Social Security number for more than 100 different employees--the same Social Security number for more than 100 different employees. One employer used a single Social Security number for 2,580 different wage reports. Mr. President, 8.9 million wage reports had all zeros for the Social Security number. In other words, there was no attempt made whatsoever to come up with the correct and accurate number, so zeros were offered as a Social Security number in 8.9 million wage reports.

Mr. President, 43 different employers used the same Social Security number for more than one employee--for 16 years in a row.

The Department of Homeland Security recently conducted the largest worksite enforcement raid to date against a company known as IFCO Systems, arresting more than 1,000 illegal aliens and charging several managers with criminal violations.

Approximately 53.4 percent of the Social Security numbers for IFCO systems were invalid--half--and Social Security had notified the company more than 13 times regarding these discrepancies before it finally acted.

This regulation will therefore provide guidance to employers who seek to comply with the law and will allow the Government to prosecute those who turn a blind eye. But this action by the Department of Homeland Security is only a Band-Aid for the underlying problem. Employers do not have a reliable method to ascertain whether employees are eligible to work in the United States. A paper-based system such as we have now, where you can use up to 29 different documents, will always be vulnerable to fraud and abuse.

Electronic verification is the way. It has been tested for more than 10 years, and an independent review of the program, the so-called basic pilot program, found that 96 percent of participating employers believe the electronic verification system is an effective tool for employment verification. The Senate immigration bill improves upon the current paper-based system and requires an expansion of the electronic verification system. But the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff told me personally that he has problems with some of the provisions in the Senate bill and that, as drafted, he considers it unworkable.

In my capacity as chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I intend to hold a hearing in the coming weeks on this critical issue of employment verification to make sure we get it right.

Twenty years ago Congress sold Americans a bill of goods. They said if you will accept the amnesty, then we will have workable worksite verifications and sanctions against employers who cheat. Yet today, here we are wrestling with the problem, not of 3 million undocumented workers but 12 million. Obviously, the amnesty without worksite verification and employer sanctions is merely a magnet for future illegal immigration.

I believe Americans are a forgiving people. If someone makes a mistake and repents, asks forgiveness and says; I'll try better next time, they are pretty forgiving. But if we are viewed as merely repeating the same mistakes and attempting to trick the American people into accepting another amnesty without actually trying to solve the problem, the consequences for our society and for our national security and for our economy will be too great.

I will, therefore, continue to work with my colleagues diligently during the conference with the House to develop an employment verification system, along with a temporary worker program, that reduces employer burdens and protects workers' rights, but which will allow us finally, once and for all, to come to grips with our broken immigration system.

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