Thread: Social Security alerts on hold

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/n ... 645128.htm

Posted on Sat, Sep. 30, 2006

IMMIGRATION REFORM DELAY MEANS NUMBERS STILL AT RISK

Social Security alerts on hold
More federal pressure on employers to verify workers' documents
STELLA M. HOPKINS
shopkins@charlotteobserver.com

The government still won't tell you if someone else is using your Social Security number.

The sweeping immigration reform touted this spring appears near dead for now. Stalled with it is a Charlotte lawmaker's proposal to notify people when their Social Security numbers are used by others.

U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., pitched that and other legislation in May after an Observer investigation found illegal immigrants working for contractors on tax-funded N.C. highway projects. The men were using Social Security numbers that were fake, stolen or belonged to dead people.

Nationwide, impatient legislators in 33 states have stepped into the void of federal inaction and passed at least 79 immigrant-related laws this year. Four states, for example, made it more difficult for illegal immigrants to work on tax-funded projects.

Similar bills didn't survive Carolinas legislatures.

North Carolina has one of the nation's fastest growing immigrant populations and is home to an estimated 390,000 illegal immigrants. South Carolina has an estimated 55,000.

Hiring illegal immigrants is against the law. But federal law doesn't require employers to verify workers' immigration status or whether their documents are valid. That 20-year-old loophole has enabled illegal immigrants to get jobs, such as building N.C. roads.

In April, the Observer reported on 11 road workers who said they made up or bought their Social Security numbers on the counterfeit market for $30 to $120.

Several million illegal immigrants may have used Americans' numbers, most likely just to get a job although there have been reports of immigrants using the number to get loans. The Social Security Administration can detect when several people use one number. But a top agency official has told the Observeralerting the rightful owners money is "better spent elsewhere."

A retired Washington state farmer owns a number that was used by one of the illegal workers in the Observer series. The farmer hasn't discovered any problems. Still, he's upset about the invasion of privacy. The Observer withheld the names of workers and number owners.

"It's amazing that there's no system in place to stop an illegal immigrant from stealing your Social Security number and using it to get a job," the farmer said in a phone interview this month. "The government is not doing its job, and it's people like me who are caught in the middle."

Access to no-match lists

The Social Security paper trail starts with earnings statements, such as the W-2 many people use to file tax returns.Every year, employers send the SSA millions of statements with names and Social Security numbers that don't match official records. Typos or other errors cause mismatches, but the SSA has said undocumented workers using false or stolen numbers are a major contributor.

SSA notifies employers of the problem, but these "no-match" notices are often ignored.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wants access to mismatch files. The information would help immigration officials identify the employers who are most likely to have illegal workers. But SSA and the IRS say privacy laws prevent them from releasing the information, which includes workers' names and addresses.

A second proposal from Myrick asks Congress to change that. She plans to pursue her bills when Congress reconvenes.

"It would be a tremendous help for us to have access so that we can gauge patterns that some businesses may have," said Jarrod Agen, Chertoff's deputy press secretary. "Getting several no-match letters shows us that there may be an employer or business who is knowingly hiring illegal aliens."

The agency is more aggressively pursuing employers of illegal immigrants. For example, proposed regulations would require that employers take specific steps to resolve mismatches. No action means they could be vulnerable to charges of intentionally hiring illegal immigrants.

Major business groups have protested, saying the rules wouldn't allow enough time to resolve problems and add to their regulatory burden. Some also want changes postponed until Congress acts on the broader immigration agenda.

"It's another enforcement measure, and we're not closer...to resolving the underlying problems," said John Gay, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, a Washington trade group.

Effect on local company

Rea Contracting received no-match letters this summer for the first time since 2002, said Kristy Blackman, the Charlotte company's human resources manager. Rea is one of two companies the Observer investigation found had illegal immigrants who worked on N.C. road projects. The company has said it complies with all federal laws.

Blackman said the company had received "quite a few" no-match notices, about one-third of them for former workers. Rea contacted the workers involved, but hasn't acted against any because they're still within the federally allowed grace period to correct problems. However, she said some employees had quit. She speculated that they panicked when they received the company letter about their Social Security numbers.

One of the 11 workers the Observer reported on in April said he was fired after the story. He also said that he was not told why he lost his job. Two other workers did not return calls.

Blackman said that Rea might enroll in the federal worker verification program that checks SSA and immigration records. It's free to all employers. The company is preparing for a job in Georgia, which this year passed one of the broadest state immigration bills.

Georgia's bill requires contractors and subcontractors on state tax-funded jobs to verify that employees are authorized to work in the U.S.

But Blackman expressed frustration typical among business executives.

"We keep hearing about all these things Washington is going to do, and they haven't done a darn thing," she said. "We're put in the middle. We're forced to be enforcement agents."

-- Staff writers Mitch Weiss and franco ordoñez contributed.

-- Stella Hopkins: 704-358-5173




Checking Social Security Numbers

More employers are using a free federal program to verify workers' identification is valid. Nationwide as of mid-September, more than 11,000 companies were using the Homeland Security program, called Basic Pilot, which taps Social Security and immigration records. That's nearly double the number six months ago, but still a fraction of the 7 million U.S. employers.

Here's how the number of Carolinas companies enrolled has changed:


Jan. 1 Sept. 11
CHARLOTTE 16 49
NORTH CAROLINA 40 308
SOUTH CAROLINA 6 119


For information call 888-464-4218..

• An online program from Social Security can verify up to 250,000 numbers. A phone-in program can verify up to five at a time. Call 800-772-6270 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.

Or you can verify up to 50 numbers by taking a list to the closest Social Security office.

For information, go to www.ssa.gov.

• Private firms also offer background checks.

"We keep hearing about all these things Washington is going to do, and they haven't done a darn thing," she said. "We're put in the middle. We're forced to be enforcement agents."

And we thank you for that effort...It will take us ..THE PEOPLE...because we are the GOVERMENT