National ID card a future job requirement?

Mike Madden, Republic Washington Bureau
Arizona Republic
Jun. 16, 2006

WASHINGTON - The job application of the future may require showing would-be bosses a new ID card proving prospective employees are who they say they are.

As Congress debates sweeping immigration and border security reforms, some lawmakers and policy experts say no new system will work without such tamper-proof credentials. Otherwise, immigrants still could come to the United States illegally and use fake documents to get jobs, possibly undermining reforms designed to encourage legal immigration.

How lawmakers deal with verifying workers' identities could determine whether immigration reform succeeds or fails. Experts agree the prospect of finding work in the United States is the lure for more than 500,000 undocumented immigrants who come here every year.

But critics are concerned about privacy issues with an ID card system, adding to worries that the government would be too involved in job applications under any new immigration system.

The House and the Senate have passed competing versions of reform legislation, and both bills would require employers to check whether workers are legally eligible for U.S. jobs. Neither bill would create a new ID document for all workers - the Senate bill calls for ID cards for foreign guest workers, and the House bill would have employers check applicants' Social Security numbers against a federal database. But revisions are expected during negotiations over how to reconcile the two bills. Negotiations have not yet begun, but Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., says a "secure, tamper-proof" ID card is an essential part of reform that he will push for during House-Senate meetings.

"If you (allow immigration) in a regulated manner and you don't close the back door to illegal immigration, it's the same effect," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for U.S. Border Patrol agents.

A new system might require a new work authorization ID, or it might combine more secure Social Security cards with more secure driver's licenses to prevent people from using counterfeit cards to pass checks. The government would have to update its databases either way, experts said.

Employers now are required to ask for Social Security numbers, but there's little consequence for most companies even if they find out workers are using fake numbers or numbers that belong to someone else. The Department of Homeland Security, which enforces laws against hiring undocumented immigrants, does not have access to Social Security records that show which companies have received warnings that their workers are using bogus IDs.

The non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center estimates that about 7 million of the 11 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants living here already are working. A Government Accountability Office audit last year found 9 million cases of workers using the Social Security number 000-00-0000 when applying for jobs.

Requiring all employers to check Social Security numbers against a federal database could cost nearly $12 billion a year, another GAO report found last year. The audit didn't study how much a new card might cost.

"As long as people can use documents that U.S. citizens now use, which are highly insecure, it's unlikely that we'll be able to reduce the fraud substantially enough," said Deborah Meyers, a senior analyst at the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

The need for a new worksite verification system with secure identifying documents unites lawmakers who often split over immigration, from Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the chief sponsors of reform legislation, to House conservatives like Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., leader of a caucus that pushes for more enforcement of current laws. Business owners might welcome a change that makes it easier to figure out whether workers are in the country legally.

"I think that there should be a card that is read," said Marty Thompson, vice president for human resources at Bar-S Foods, based in Phoenix. "We've got computers, read the card . . . There should be a standard document (for U.S. citizens and foreigners). Why not?"

President Bush, who supports the Senate bill, said recently that all foreign workers should have a secure ID card that proves they are who they say. That might mean U.S. citizens would not need any new documents.

But Latino civil rights advocates, who have played a major role in pushing Congress to act on immigration, say a universal verification system would be more fair. Otherwise, advocates worry that employers would reject hiring hiring anyone who they thought might be a foreigner, for fear of unwittingly accepting phony documentation.

"If we're going to have a system that works and that reforms our immigration system, we need to be able to verify the employment of all eligible workers," said Flavia Jimenez, a spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza. Conservatives like Bonner agree that letting U.S. citizens prove their identity without a new, counterfeit-proof card could backfire.

"The system (the House bill is based on) relies upon nothing more than matching Social Security names, number, date of birth and a separate form of ID to prove that you are that person," Bonner said. "That's great if every employer were a cop, but the cops are the only ones who have the means to tell the genuine from the fake driver's license."

But critics say any national system to verify identity would effectively mean workers need the government's permission to get a job, and that security flaws in federal databases could leave personal records vulnerable to hackers.

"Our fundamental freedoms should not be undermined through a flawed immigration reform bill," said Caroline Frederickson, director of the national legislative office for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Politically influential business groups, which also are pushing for immigration reform, said they're staying out of the argument about a new ID document, as long as Congress comes up with a system that won't be too expensive or complex for employers to use.

"The issue is, does the system work?" said John Gay, co-chairman of the Essential Immigration Worker Coalition, which represents big hotel chains, restaurant companies and other employers. "There's no out for us if the government doesn't have its end running."












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