False Social Security Numbers used by Undocumented Workers
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most illegal immigrants who succeed in getting to the United States waste little
time in looking for a job. For many it was most likely
not an easy nor cheap journey. They may have ended up borrowing money from
family and friends to pay for their initial expenses. Perhaps they were lucky
enough to gather enough money for their expenses and not have to borrow but now
are running low on cash. Most illegal immigrants are not picky and will take
nearly any job offered to them. Job benefits are not a priority as most do not
expect them. They may even take on two jobs. Their skills vary and some may even
have college degrees. A significant percentage of illegal immigrants are not
fluent in English. They know they do not have the luxury of being able to pick
and choose because they are also limited due to their illegal status in the
country. Many will work in the service industry or work in the fields. Others
will work construction or in factories. Some employers will refuse to hire them
if they cannot provide valid documentation while other employers willingly hire
illegal immigrants. Attaining counterfeit Social Security cards or permanent
residency cards are not difficult. Especially in communities with high immigrant
populations, chances are someone knows someone who can get a hold of these types
of documents. Generally, the higher the price for the counterfeits the higher
the quality will be. While most of the counterfeits can easily be identified as
they are poor quality, many employers will intentionally overlook this.
Employers are required by law to hire only individuals who are
legally in the United States
along with other restrictions. However, even though this law exists employers
continue to hire illegal immigrants due to the weak enforcement. In many places
there is a shortage of Americans willing to do certain minimum wage jobs. So
when an illegal immigrant is more than willing to take these jobs all they are
required to do is present some “legal” documents to
work. Since Congress has not been able to pass immigration reform bills the
Department of Homeland Security (or DHS) is looking at other ways to punish
employers. The idea is that by imposing severe penalties on employers this will
encourage them to stop hiring illegal immigrants. Many employers accept false
social security cards and
permanent residency cards as “proof” that the
individual can legally work in the United States. The Social Security
Administration or SSA is responsible for the processing of annual employee wage
reports and do so for more than 250 million employees. The reports help the SSA
determine future employee benefits like disability, survivor payments and social
security. The agency comes across many employees who have mismatched
social
security numbers. This means that the social security number provided by the
company does not match up with the name and social security number the
administration has in their records. The mismatches occur due to a clerical
error, change of name due to marriage or just a name change. Last year the
Social Security Administration found there were nearly 8 million mismatches
which represents about 4% of the total reports processed.
The DHS secretary recently proposed a new rule that would have stepped up their
security efforts. A company receiving a no-match letter would be given 30 days
to investigate if there was a clerical error on their behalf. If the company
would find no clerical error then the employee would be given the opportunity to
prove the information presented was accurate. The employee, if needed, would
have to contact the SSA to make any corrections. The secretary proposed that
after the no-match letter was received there would be a 90 day period to make
corrections. If the employee failed to prove they were lawfully authorized to
work in the United States then the employer would be mandated to terminate the
employee. Advocates of this proposed rule believe that about 90% of the million
mismatches are illegal immigrants. It would punish employers as enforcement
efforts would be stepped up. Less illegal immigrants would be hired and this may
discourage them from coming to the United States. For those presently in the
U.S. it may encourage them to return to their homeland since finding a job would
become more difficult. In addition, the rule would be beneficial to employers
who have some kind of inconsistency when it comes to their social security
number. They would be able to clear up problems now rather than in the future
when trying to obtain benefits. Opponents of the proposed rule questioned the
90% figure as they believed it was too high. They were also worried that a high
number of legal residents and even citizens would be fired by employers if the
rule went into effect. A federal judge has blocked the rule from being
implemented since it would bring numerous problems and hurt many who are legally
working in the United States.
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