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December 19, 2005
Businesses oppose verification plan for workers
Kent Hoover
Washington Bureau Chief

Employers may have to get Uncle Sam's permission to hire future workers.

That's the effect of a new requirement in the House's immigration reform bill. Two years after enactment, employers would have to submit the Social Security numbers or alien identification numbers of new hires to the federal government, which would compare these numbers to government databases. The government would then notify the employer whether the individual is eligible to work.

The provision is aimed at ending the widespread use of phony Social Security numbers by illegal immigrants looking for work in the United States. Employers currently are required to ask prospective employees for evidence of their eligibility to work in this country, but it's often difficult to determine whether immigrants' documents are authentic.



"There are a lot of great fake IDs out there," says Kelly Knott, a lobbyist with the Associated General Contractors of America.

As a result, American businesses employ millions of illegal immigrants.

Members of Congress who want to stop the flow of illegal immigration to the United States contend that ending these foreigners' ability to find jobs here is just as important as increasing security along the nation's borders.

For employers, the proposed employee verification system "means the 'I didn't know' defense isn't going to cut it anymore," says Rep. Dan Issa, R-Calif.

System only small pilot now
Business lobbyists say the employee verification system won't work. It's based on a pilot program now used by only 3,500 businesses. Making the program mandatory for all employers could cause significant problems because of the system's inability to detect identity theft, and government delays in entering and verifying data, the Government Accountability Office reports.

"Any time you take such a small program ... and expand it to millions and millions of employers, there most likely are going to be some glitches," Knott says.

Businesses are especially concerned about a requirement to check all employees' Social Security numbers -- not just new hires -- within six years. That's "an enormous undertaking," says Laura Reiff, an immigration attorney at Greenberg Traurig and co-chair of the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition.

The House Judiciary Committee rejected an attempt to remove this requirement from the bill. Doing so would gut the bill, says committee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. He says businesses that employ hundreds of illegal aliens are "21st century slave masters."

Guest worker program left out
Business groups also are upset about what Sensenbrenner didn't include in his bill: a guest worker program or some other legal channel for businesses to employ more people from other countries.

Cutting off the stream of illegal immigrants while providing no legal means to fill businesses' need for workers "seems like the perfect storm to cripple the economy," says Geoff Burr, director of legislative affairs for Associated Builders and Contractors.

"You're kissing away huge amounts of U.S. industries," says Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., citing agriculture, tourism, hospitality and construction in particular.

Business lobbyists say immigrants are needed to fill jobs that can't be filled by Americans.

That "isn't a lie, but it isn't the whole story," says Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., leader of the anti-immigration movement in the House. These businesses can't find workers "for what they're willing to pay," he says.

Even in construction, where immigrants make up one-fourth of the work force, the unemployment rate for native-born Americans is 11 percent, reports the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigration research organization.

"There is quite a lot of unutilized labor in the United States," says Steven Camarota, director of research at CIS.

Construction industry lobbyists, however, say they've been trying for years to get young Americans interested in their profession but still face labor shortages despite an average wage of $19 an hour.

"A high school is not considered successful by how many people it sends to the construction industry," Knott says.

Senate may help businesses
Business lobbyists hope the Senate will include a guest worker program when it takes up immigration reform next year and they'll end up with a bill more to their liking.

That's exactly what Tancredo fears.

He predicts there will be "a lot of hoopla" about the House immigration bill, which was expected to pass by Dec. 16, but its enforcement provisions will be undermined by the Senate's demand for a guest worker program.

When the final bill emerges from a House-Senate conference, "it will be very, very ugly," he predicts. "I am very worried about it."