Brainstorms smash into databases

By Dan Moffett

Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer

Sunday, June 29, 2008

President Bush issued an executive order this month that requires federal contractors to check the eligibility of their workers on a government database called E-Verify.

The idea is to give business owners a way to confirm the identities and immigration status of employees.

In theory, after going online and clicking the mouse a few times, an employer should be able to tell whether a prospective worker is legally eligible to be hired.

In reality, the government has had a hard time getting the database to function the way it should. During early test runs, about 4 percent of U.S. citizens entered into the database were incorrectly flagged as illegal immigrants. And the rate of illegal immigrants mistakenly verified as citizens ran as high as 10 percent.

The same problems that plagued the terrorist watch lists at airports make it difficult to produce reliable results in the workplace.

E-Verify is supposed to compare the identification information a worker submits with more than 480 million records in the databases of the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. This is a heavy load in itself.

Complicating matters further is the bad information about immigrants, both legal and illegal, that's already in the federal computers: so many similar names, clerical errors, and fraudulent identities to sort through.

That would be challenging enough, but then there are the predictable problems in getting two highly bureaucratic government agencies to work together. Collaborations between SSA and DHS are highly SNAFU-prone. Also, because of privacy laws, the two agencies are prohibited from sharing information directly.

Trying to get SSA and DHS to cooperate with each other is like asking two divas to share the same microphone.

Last year, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff announced tough new rules to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. The government routinely sends out "no match" letters to companies that submit employee information - Social Security numbers, in particular - with discrepancies to the government.

Typically, a couple hundred thousand "no match" letters go out each year and they are ignored a couple hundred thousand times. Mr. Chertoff wanted to start fining employers and shutting down companies that didn't respond to the letters.

The crackdown was over in a matter of days after a federal judge reminded Mr. Chertoff and the Bush administration that the government's records were so bad that innocent, law-abiding employers and employees were sure to suffer punishment they didn't deserve.

The executive order on E-Verify is this year's version of last year's "no match" letter brainstorm. About 1 million employees of federal contractors could be affected. Roughly 53,000 of the nation's 6 million employers are using the database now.

Beyond that, legislators in 11 states have passed laws requiring contractors who do state business to use the E-Verify system: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Utah.

You don't see Florida on this list because lawmakers know enough to worry about the economic consequences. Florida has earned a reputation as being one of the "easy" states for getting away with Social Security fraud in the workplace.

The agriculture, construction and service industries are dependent on illegal labor and already suffering enough without identity verification initiatives from Tallahassee. Florida is a don't ask, don't tell state when it comes to labor. No database is going to change that anytime soon.

But someday, Congress may find the courage to pass a comprehensive reform bill that restores common sense and fairness to the nation's immigration policy, and a president that isn't George Bush will sign it.

Mr. Chertoff probably won't be there. But his computers might just be running well enough then to have a role in making the reformed system work.