Thread: MN: Order to screen worker IDs sparks debate

Order to screen worker IDs sparks debate
By JEAN HOPFENSPERGER, Star Tribune
March 2, 2008

[img]http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/440*305/3verify0303.jpg[/img]
Lupe Moreno, a supervisor at St. Paul Brass and Aluminum Foundry, said he has seen a dramatic increase in Latino job applicants in recent years. The foundry has signed up for an electronic identity check system and is likely to implement it this year.

As the illegal immigration debate continues, Minnesota launches a new program to force more employers to use a controversial system for checking employees' IDs.

Tim Hartigan wanted to make sure he wasn't hiring illegal workers at his St. Paul foundry. So he signed up for an electronic identity-check system that has become Minnesota's first major attempt to stop illegal immigration at its magnet: the workplace.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty recently mandated that thousands of the major state contractors use this federal employment verification system, known as E-Verify. Any of Minnesota's 25,000 contractors who do more than $50,000 worth of business with the state must run the names of their new employees through the federal check.

Ditto for all their subcontractors. And for their branch offices across the country.

Pawlenty's order went into effect Jan. 29, and it immediately sparked protests.

Unlikely allies such as immigrant rights groups and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce argue the law is too sweeping and the federal data too flawed to be the basis for hiring decisions.

Groups clamoring for a crackdown on illegal immigration, especially in light of the recent deaths in Cottonwood at the hands of an illegal immigrant driver, say forcing employers to be more vigilant is a good start, but more must be done.

In the middle are employers like Hartigan.

"I think most employers really want to be in compliance with the law," said Hartigan, president of St. Paul Brass and Aluminum Foundry, a subcontractor with the federal government. It also is expected to mandate E-Verify for its contractors this year.

"But if we're going to end up firing people because of inaccuracies in the data, that's a problem," he said. "If you dismiss someone who is here legally, you're liable for 'wrongful termination' [of an employee]. It's a sticky question."

Imperfect system

A version of E-Verify has been available to employers since the mid-1990s. Hormel Foods Corp., which owns the Jennie-O plant where Olga Marina Franco once worked, has used the system since 1998. Franco is charged with the deaths of four children in the Cottonwood school bus crash.

Interest in E-Verify has exploded in Minnesota in the past few months.

In 2007, the names of 31,000 Minnesota workers were run through the electronic database that matches Social Security numbers with names and birth dates.

In the first seven weeks of this year, 26,000 names were checked.

"It's definitely a big increase," said Marilu Cabrera, spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. "We're seeing this everywhere. It [E-Verify] takes the guesswork away from employers and makes it easier to comply with the law."

Undocumented workers, who typically are nervous applying for jobs, are getting more so, immigrant advocates said. But even legitimate workers are worried that a spelling error or birth-date error could cause them to fail the check.

"I had a client dismissed from a laundry a couple months ago who had a valid Social Security card," said Bruce Nestor, a Minneapolis immigration attorney. Even a printout from the Social Security Administration office confirming his identity matched didn't resolve the situation.

Ultimately the client ended up losing his job and found another, said Nestor, adding that "even the employer was frustrated."

The Jennie-O Turkey plant in Willmar where Franco once worked had not completely enrolled in E-Verify, but was checking the Social Security numbers of workers with the federal database, said Julie Craven, spokeswoman for Hormel Foods.

With a Minnesota I.D., Franco would have had to show a valid Social Security number in order to get hired, she said. The fact that her number apparently didn't raise red flags points to one of the problems with E-Verify: It picks up fake numbers but not people engaged in identity theft.

That immigration agents netted 230 illegal workers at Swift & Co. plants -- which use E-Verify -- in 2006 underscores the problem, said James Hamilton, company spokesman.

And ironically, a few years earlier, Swift faced a $2.3 million lawsuit because "we asked for too much identification," Hamilton said. That federal lawsuit was settled out of court.

Unlike Swift and Hormel, Hartigan's foundry is a small business with 30 employees. It's tougher to start up E-Verify at small businesses, without human resource departments or staff time to devote to mastering the online verification system, Hartigan said.

"I thought, 'If the Department of Homeland Security thinks it's a good thing for America, I'll check it out,'" Hartigan said. "But I found it was very time-consuming to use. You have to go through a signup, then they mail you a password, then you go back to the system, sign more disclaimers ... You have to take an online test to prove you've learned what they taught."

Hartigan eventually took a break from the signup, and intends to go at it again as the federal government mandates E-Verify this year.

About a half-dozen states also are experimenting with E-Verify, said Angelo Amador, immigration policy director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which opposes mandating E-Verify in its current form.

Arizona requires all businesses to use it, he said. Illinois mandated that none of its businesses signs up until the government certifies the accuracy of its data. Georgia focuses only on state contractors.

Those laws are already provoking lawsuits. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sued Oklahoma last month for mandating the system. The federal government sued Illinois in October. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce is suing the state.

Amador joked: "It's keeping attorneys busy.''

Meanwhile Minnesota's Legislative Audit Commission has put E-Verify on its short list of programs for possible scrutiny by the state auditor.

Leaders in Minnesota's 200,000-strong Hispanic community are keeping an eye on E-Verify's progress. Some fear it will make employers less willing to hire Hispanics in general.

"It's targeting Latinos," said Ramon Leon, executive director of the Latino Economic Development Center in Minneapolis. "If you look at Social Security records, you'll find that the majority of errors came from Latinos. I think employers have to be very careful if they use it."
http://www.startribune.com/local/16168812.html

Jean Hopfensperger • 651-298-1553

What is the problem...it is a FEDERAL law that has been on the books...nothing new

"It's targeting Latinos," said Ramon Leon, executive director of the Latino Economic Development Center in Minneapolis. "If you look at Social Security records, you'll find that the majority of errors came from Latinos. I think employers have to be very careful if they use it."

Wow, now they're going to be calling a machine racist?

Maybe, Ramon, just maybe, it's because there's a reason? Such as a fake id? made up ss#? someone using a child's ss#? I don't know of many infants who work full time at whatever, do you?

If someone is here legally, they should be able to clear up the error, wouldn't you think?

"It's targeting Latinos," said Ramon Leon, executive director of the Latino Economic Development Center in Minneapolis. "If you look at Social Security records, you'll find that the majority of errors came from Latinos. I think employers have to be very careful if they use it."

Hmmm.............that wouldn't be because 80% of the illegals are Latinos would it?

Originally Posted by MW

"It's targeting Latinos," said Ramon Leon, executive director of the Latino Economic Development Center in Minneapolis. "If you look at Social Security records, you'll find that the majority of errors came from Latinos. I think employers have to be very careful if they use it."

Hmmm.............that wouldn't be because 80% of the illegals are Latinos would it?

Bingo! We have a winner (exactly what I was thinking when I read this..)