Plano Rep. Sam Johnson: Social Security should verify workers

Plano Rep. Sam Johnson: Social Security should verify workers

04:51 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The agency responsible for anti-terrorism and national security shouldn't be keeping track of American workers, a Texas congressman told a House panel Tuesday.

Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Plano, urged members of a House Judiciary subcommittee to make the Social Security Administration, rather than the Homeland Security Department, in charge of checking whether employers are hiring illegal immigrants. He also promoted using an existing state new-hire system rather than the E-Verify system Homeland Security prefers.

"An agency responsible for tracking terrorists and securing our borders should not be keeping tabs on when and where U.S. citizens work," Johnson said. "Yet the Department of Homeland Security is building databases and maintaining data on the work history of American citizens and American employers."

Johnson's comments come just a few days after President Bush signed an executive order requiring anyone who does business with the federal government to use an electronic system to verify that their employees are not illegal immigrants.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff designated E-Verify, a Web-based system, as the one the contractors should use.

Under a bill Johnson and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., have introduced, the Social Security Administration would verify legal status of U.S. citizen employees and DHS would be responsible for investigating legal residents and other non-citizens working in the U.S.

Johnson said the Social Security Administration should lead the work "because it is their fundamental job to track earnings and because the vast majority of those who work in this country are American citizens and should not be tracked by DHS."

Johnson is the ranking Republican on the the House Ways and Means Committee's Social Security subcommittee.

Johnson said rather than spending money to expand E-Verify, employers could transmit the information through existing state new-hire systems to the Social Security Administration. Ninety percent of employers already use those systems, compared to 1 percent enrolled in E-Verify.

His bill also provides avenues to dispute decisions on work eligibility.

"As a pilot program, E-Verify has been very worthwhile in highlighting the challenges to creating a one-size-fits-all system for the many hiring situations in the U.S. economy," said Sue Meisinger, president and CEO of the Society of Human Resource Management. The coalition represents hundreds of thousands of employers.

Johnson said his bill would be accompanied by funding to help Social Security Administration clean up its databases and handle the new workload.

Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., argued the government shouldn't switch systems midstream. He urged sticking with E-Verify.

"It's a proven system that's been in place quite some time .... Why spend millions and millions of dollars to recreate something that's been working?" Shuler said. Shuler has filed a bill requiring all employers to use the E-Verify system, phasing in its use over four years.

About 17.8 million Social Security Administration files have errors, 12.7 million of which involve U.S. citizens, said Timothy Sparapani, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Social Security Administration's inspector general has found that the agency's database has a 4 percent error rate.

A report commissioned by Homeland Security Department found 0.1 percent of native-born citizens and 10 percent of naturalized citizens have incorrect information in their DHS files that could flag them as illegal immigrant workers, Sparapani said.

The ACLU opposes any verification system, saying all proposals are inadequate to protect American workers' privacy and their right to work.

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