Immigration Enforcement Targets Employers

Homeland Security chief Napolitano says the agency will step up employment verification efforts using the controversial E-Verify system

By Jane Sasseen

The Obama Administration plans to intensify efforts begun under the Bush Administration to crack down on companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants, according to Janet Napolitano, the new head of the of Homeland Security Dept.

Speaking to reporters at a breakfast sponsored on May 19 by The Christian Science Monitor, Napolitano said that DHS, which encompasses the U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement service, or ICE, and the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, or CIS, will focus more on targeting employers than workers as it tackles illegal immigration.

The "Pull" Factor

"Before we go in and arrest a bunch of workers, we need to make sure we've done what we need to do to prepare a case against the employer if there's a basis to believe that an employer is knowingly hiring illegal immigrants," Napolitano said. "We recognize that the bulk of illegal immigration is because of labor demand. You've got to get at that 'pull' factor if you're going to have an impact."

To do so, Napolitano said the DHS will bolster its ability to determine what employers actually know about their employees' status. For example, DHS will step up its audits of the Employee Eligibility Verification forms, commonly known as I9 forms, that employers must use to verify their employees' identification and confirm that they have the right to work in the U.S.

"There are a whole host of investigative techniques you can use" if you want to get at the people making money off of the hiring of illegal immigrants, rather than simply rack up bigger arrest numbers of the workers themselves, she said.

E-Verify: Fixes and Glitches

Wider use of the controversial E-Verify program also appears to be in the works. The federal program—administered by CIS—is designed to allow employers to check that employees and new hires are providing accurate Social Security numbers and other documents. The program has been widely criticized by the business community and immigrants' rights groups, however, because it contains many errors. According to a 2006 DHS study, it had a nearly 11% error rate, although that had been reduced to 6% by mid-2008. President Obama's 2010 budget includes $112 million, a 12% increase from the previous year, to improve the accuracy of E-Verify and encourage more employers to use it.

Some immigrant advocates say that while forms of employee screening may be necessary, the current E-Verify system is not yet reliable enough to be that tool. "When we fix our immigration system, part of that fix is most likely going to be E-Verify," says Doug Rivlin, a spokesman for the National Immigration Forum, which supports immigrants' rights. "But E-Verify has a long way to go before it's ready for prime time."

Businesses fear that errors could force them to fire employees or avoid new hires who appear to be illegal but who are in fact working legally in the U.S. They also argue it is often ineffective and can encourage identity theft, since employees who simply make up a Social Security number have a greater chance of being caught by E-Verify than those who use the stolen Social Security number, name, and other identifying details of a real person. "Everyone arrested in the Swift plant raids had been through the E-Verify system," says Angelo Amador, the head of immigration policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, referring to the hundreds of workers arrested in late 2006 after ICE agents raided six plants owned by meatpacker Swift & Co..

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