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Thu 22 Apr, 2004 06:09 pm
This is a good thing! My wife worked for a company that employed many people who did not speak English. They were required to take a Social Security number from each prospective employee and verify it. But they were not allowed to match the number to a name. All they could do was verify that it was an actual number. I wonder if private companies will be able to access the Basic Worker Verification Program.
Quote:Bill Would Require Federal Contractors to Validate Citizenship of Prospective Employees
By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
April 22, 2004
WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) recently introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would require proper enforcement of current immigration laws.
"The Federal Contractors Security Act," or H.R. 4064, would help improve immigration law enforcement and provide support for homeland security efforts.
Under the bill, federal contractors would have to use the Basic Worker Verification Program to validate the Social Security numbers of new workers. In fact, this process would be free to contractors to encourage them to verify a prospective employee's citizenship.
"In a time when border security is an important part of our war on terrorism, there is no excuse for failing to screen employees," Blackburn remarked in comments about her bill.
Blackburn believes illegal aliens abound in security-sensitive areas across the United States.
"Currently there are illegal immigrants on the payrolls of federal contractors in high security areas," Blackburn warned. "This legislation can put an end to both misuse of taxpayer dollars and violation of America's immigration policies."
Created in 1996, the Basic Worker Verification Program gave employers permission to access the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Social Security Administration records to confirm the information provided by a prospective employee regarding the legality of their citizenship.
The program is currently being used by employers in California, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, New York and Texas.
In November 2003, Congress passes a law that calls for expanding coverage under the Basic Worker Verification Program to go nationwide by the end of 2004. This would, in essence, require all federal contractors to use the citizenship verification program before hiring new workers.
The need for this legislation is exemplified by several recent stories in the news, Blackburn argues.
In Houston, Texas, a security firm hired an illegal immigrant to patrol the Houston immigration office as an armed guard although the person had a deportation order against him and was under investigation by the federal government.
In San Diego, California, a Navy contractor had hired a handful of illegal immigrants who had access to military installations and warships.
Yet another situation like this one happened with a Colorado federal contractor and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
"The Federal Contractors Security Act" has 11 cosponsors in the House and is currently under consideration by the House Judiciary Committee and the House Education and the Workforce Committee.
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Hmm. I can call SSA with a name and number and I will either get a confirmation or be advised to send the employee to the local office to clear up whatever problem there might be. Of course, I'm not required to do this before employment, and it's so time consuming to deal with the usually rude clerks that I seldom bother.
With the information presented, it sounds like a good idea, but I'm sure hoping they can make the process quicker and more pleasant.
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