http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_4836251

Verifying system called deficient
Critics of Basic Pilot urge a revamp of the program or a new one because it can't identify illegal immigrants who steal people's identities.
By Will Shanley
Denver Post Staff Writer
Article Last Updated:12/14/2006 12:06:21 AM MST

Basic Pilot is a federal program and database designed to help employers like Swift & Co. verify that workers can legally be employed by screening for bogus identification such as counterfeit Social Security numbers and fake green cards.

But the program should be revamped or a new one created because it can't identify illegal immigrants who steal people's identities to secure U.S. jobs, immigration experts said Wednesday.

Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary, urged Congress to take action.

Chertoff on Wednesday noted that federal law bars the Social Security Administration from notifying the Department of Homeland Security if Social Security numbers are being used by multiple people in multiple
workplaces.

Lifting that legal obstacle would allow the agency "to more readily identify the kind of identity theft and identity fraud that we discovered in this case."

Chertoff was referring to Tuesday's raids at Swift meatpacking plants in Greeley and five other states, in which 1,282 people were arrested. Some allegedly had purchased or stolen names and Social Security numbers to get jobs with Swift.

Swift, one of the nation's largest meat processors, maintains that it followed all federal regulations for verifying the legal status of its workers. It uses Basic Pilot.

"Swift remains one of the very few employers to use the system," the company said in a statement Tuesday.

A fraction of eligible employers - about 8,600 out of 5.6 million companies nationally as of July - use Basic Pilot, which is optional. About 760 businesses in Colorado use the system.

The parent company of Dunkin' Donuts said this year it would require all franchisees to use Basic Pilot.

Tested since 1997 and rolled out nationally in 2004, Basic Pilot allows companies to check names and Social Security numbers proffered by potential workers against federal databases. That happens after an Employment Eligibility Verification form, called an I-9, is filed.

Basic Pilot was not designed to counter identity theft, said Sharon Rummery with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency in charge of the program that is part of Homeland Security.

"Its purpose is to (flag) what is most frequently done: the use of counterfeit green cards and Social Security numbers," Rummery said.

President Bush's 2007 budget requests $111 million to expand the optional program.

But critics contend expanding the program won't fix the problems related to identity theft.

"The illegals are always ahead of the law. They have already figured out how to get around Basic Pilot," said Ann Allott, a Centennial-based immigration attorney and author of the "Employer Handbook on the Hiring of Authorized Workers."

David Livingston, head of Backgrounds International, said Basic Pilot is not enough to protect employers.

He recommended companies conduct a Social Security number trace, which checks if multiple people are possibly using a single Social Security number.

"The employers, unless it's federally mandated, will do the minimum in screening their people," Livingston said.

His Lakewood firm does pre-employment screenings for firms in industries such as finance, health care and aviation.

Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-954-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.