Thread: Report: State job sites rife with workers using fake IDs

Here's one from Sen. Kennedy's home state of Massachusetts
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ ... TE=DEFAULT

Jun 18, 11:48 AM EDT

Report: State job sites rife with workers using fake IDs

BOSTON (AP) -- The state has provided millions of dollars to contractors who employ undocumented workers on public projects, according to records reviewed by The Boston Globe.

A Globe analysis of nine recent public works projects showed that more than one third of 242 workers on weekly payrolls lists appeared to lack legitimate Social Security numbers.

On one of the payrolls, for masonry work at a dormitory project at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, 55 of the contractor's 87 workers had bogus or questionable Social Security numbers.

One worker who helped building the Middlesex County jail in Billerica submitted the obviously fraudulent number 666-66-6666. Some numbers belonged to people who were long dead. Others were matched to people who lived out of state and had no idea their numbers had been used, the Globe found.

"There should be a big hue and cry about this across the state," said state Sen. Richard Tisei, a Wakefield Republican. "This is taxpayers' money, and taxpayers' money should be used in legal ways."
Undocumented workers are appealing to some construction firms because they will typically work for lower wages and are less likely to complain to authorities about labor violations.

It's illegal under state law for companies to knowingly hire undocumented immigrants. But employers aren't required to demonstrate their workers are legal, and undocumented workers employed on the projects say contractors are happy to look the other way.

State and municipal officials told the Globe that contractors are responsible for verifying a workers' status, while contractors said they obey federal laws that require them to ask for employees' documentation but do not mandate further inquiry.

At UMass-Dartmouth, Lighthouse Masonry of New Bedford got a $9.8 million contract to help build six dormitories in 2004. Of the 87 workers on the payroll reviewed, 55 had questionable or bogus Social Security numbers. Lighthouse president Paul Alves said he knew nothing about undocumented workers at his business during a brief telephone interview.

UMass-Dartmouth spokesman John Hoey said the school was not equipped to enforce immigration laws.

"The university concerns itself with getting the job done," he said.

John Bethell, superintendent of M K Painting, said he was unaware his company had hired six workers who lacked valid Social Security numbers for a job painting a water storage tank in Blackstone.

"We ask them for their documents, and they give us their documents," Bethell said. "We're not private eyes."

Federal immigration guidelines only require that the documents "appear to be genuine" and stress to employers that they are not expected to be "document experts." Undocumented workers say obtaining an authentic-looking Social Security card with a made-up or stolen number is easy and the price is as little as $80.

A 24-year Brazilian immigrant said he made up a 9-digit number for the card that included part of his mother's phone number in Brazil. The number he made up belongs to a Quincy woman.

"You have to remember the number, and that's a number I can remember," said the masonry worker, who lives in Burlington and insisted on anonymity to avoid detection by authorities.

Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, said public officials simply lack the will to take on the problem. He said the fact the Globe can find out if the numbers are fraudulent shows that officials have chosen to not enforce the law."The fact that it's so easy to do and we don't require it is absurd," he said.

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Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies, said public officials simply lack the will to take on the problem. He said the fact the Globe can find out if the numbers are fraudulent shows that officials have chosen to not enforce the law."The fact that it's so easy to do and we don't require it is absurd," he said.

right on...