Checking up on illegal immigrants

Verifying the identity of illegal migrants and cracking down on companies that employ migrants without legal documentation is the subject of a number of articles and commentaries this week.

In their often desperate quest for work in the United States, illegal migrants have resorted to what the New York Times calls “a growing trade in bonafide documents.” The paper features the story of the two Violeta Blanco's – one, a single mother on welfare in California, the other an illegal immigrant mother of  three  and former employee  of the Swift & Company meatpacking plant in Des Moines, Iowa. We commented on the wave of raids at a number of plants a few weeks ago. The second Ms. Blanco, Eloisa NuÑez Galeana, purchased Ms. Blanco's social security card from a ‘door-to-door’ saleswoman back in 2003 and used it only for her application to Swift & Company.  In total, 148 illegal migrants were charged with identity theft following the Des Moines raid.

An Op-Ed in the same paper, by Doris Meissner, senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute and former INS commissioner under President Bill Clinton,  and James Ziglar,  the  commissioner under George W. Bush, now makes the case for biometric social security cards to prevent this new type of identity fraud. It also praises a joint, bi-partisan bill by Representatives Luis Gutierrez, Democrat of Illinois and his peer, Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, for its efforts on holding employers accountable for their hiring practices. The proposed bill, the authors argue, takes its cues directly from the crackdown on illegal migrants at the Swift Plant. Meissner and Ziglar (who admits he has a vested interest in biometric SSNs as CEO of a biometric technology company) believe that in order to effectively monitor employers and prevent them from employing illegal migrants against their better knowledge, tamper-proof identification for job seekers is of the essence. They criticize the existing Basic Pilot program, which requires only electronic verification of employment eligibility, making the case of the two Violeta Blanco's an often-repeated scenario.

While the recent raids at various companies throughout the US and the quasi-immediate deportation of most of the illegal immigrant employees discovered through these operations, editors at the Economist still find the US government's policy of punishment towards these type of companies unclear. They point out that in 2004 the total number of employers fined $5,000 or more for employing illegals was zero – the sarcastic undertone is all too clear when the author calls this “not much of a deterrent.” In October 2006, the Head of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, revealed that 716 employers had been arrested for hiring illegals in that year, but as the Economist points out, “it remains to be seen how severely they will be punished.”

As the debate on what constitutes comprehensive immigration reform soldiers on, a few things are becoming clear: both Republicans and Democrats seem to agree that effective enforcement is the key to any immigration reform, including stepped up border enforcement and an employee verification system that slows the influx of unauthorized foreigners. At the same time, the issue is deeply steeped in partisan politics: Democrats are weary of co-operating with the President on the matter, as they do not want him or his party to reap the benefits of having fixed the immigration system – certainly not so close to a major election. The Economist believes that the Democrats might well “stall until a Democrat is in the White House and then take it all.” This tactic could afford Democrats a “long-term lock on the swelling Hispanic vote,” the magazine quotes analysts’ speculations. This could prove a risky strategy, however, and many including Rep. Gutierrez have realized that a “hang back” attitude could also sway voters opinions. As we get closer to the primaries, immigration reform looks to play a larger role in the candidates’ debate – even ahead of their formal selection.

Additional resources:

• The Migration  News, a publication of  the University of California, Davis offers an overview of recent  proposals on US immigration reform.
• The Migration Policy Insitute will discuss the Gutierrez/Flake bill with experts at an upcoming event entitled “Immigration Reform: Prospects and Possibilities” (April 26).  Their Policy Beat also offers a comprehensive overview and analysis of the proposals made thus far (published/updated April 16).
• The New York Times tells the story of the two Blancos in a audio slide show