From The Center For Immigration Studies: The Inevitability of Worker Verification

Panel to Assess Progress of Immigration-Enforcement Tool

WASHINGTON (August 2006) — One of the few areas of agreement between the competing House and Senate immigration bills is making mandatory the now-voluntary system of employee verification, called the “Basic Pilot” program. Some 10,000 American businesses today are participating in the Basic Pilot, which checks the name, Social Security number, and date of birth of new hires, making it harder for illegal aliens to find employment. When Congress eventually reaches an agreement on immigration legislation – either this year or in the future – the new law is certain to make this verification system a universal part of the hiring process for all employers.

The Department of Homeland Security, which runs the system along with the Social Security Administration, is already proceeding on the assumption that the Basic Pilot will become mandatory and is adding new participants at an accelerating pace, including most notably Dunkin’ Brands, which recently required all its Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins franchisees to enroll in the verification program. In addition, DHS is partnering with private businesses that offer user-friendly interfaces with the verification system — similar to what TurboTax does for tax filing.

The Center for Immigration Studies will host a briefing to detail the government’s activities and plans related to the Basic Pilot, and to offer a demonstration of one of the private-sector tools that promise to simplify the process of worker authorization. The briefing will take place this Thursday, August 24, at the Center’s office at 1522 K St. NW, Suite 820. The briefing will run from 12 noon to 1 p.m. and feature:

* Gerri Ratliff, Chief of the Verification Division, U.S. Department of Homeland Security;

* John Hermann, Chief Executive Officer of Form I-9 Compliance, the first company to become a “designated agent” of the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration for electronic Form I-9 employment verifications;

* Mark Krikorian, Executive Director, Center for Immigration Studies.

The briefing is free and open to the public. The Center for Immigration Studies is located near both the Farragut North and McPherson Square Metro stations. For more information, contact John Keeley at (202) 466-8185 or jmk@cis.org

Center for Immigration Studies
1522 K St. NW, Suite 820
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 466-8185 fax: (202) 466-8076
center@cis.org www.cis.org