The Senate is set to vote today on a bipartisan immigration reform bill that the Bush administration has endorsed. Some GOP hardliners, however, have threatened to break ranks, calling the bill weak on enforcement and a thinly disguised bid to offer "amnesty" to illegal aliens.
What isn't getting enough attention is a provision that would create a powerful new tool for enforcing U.S. immigration laws -- an electronic employment verification system (EEVS) that would enable authorities to crack down on companies that knowingly hire undocumented workers.
Although Republican restrictionists don't talk as much about this kind of enforcement, it could prove more effective in reducing illegal immigration than any of the "get tough" measures conservatives are clamoring for. A sophisticated electronic employment verification system that uses scannable identification cards with embedded biometric technologies would in effect erect a "virtual wall" preventing unscrupulous employers from hiring illegal aliens.
The importance of EEVS is evidenced by the failed reform efforts of the past. In 1986, Congress passed an immigration law that was supposed to couple amnesty for illegal residents with tough workplace enforcement. But the combination of very poor bureaucratic implementation and 1980s technology made it nearly impossible for employers to figure out if prospective hires were legal or not. Forged documents became ubiquitous, and private employers quickly found themselves in a de facto "don't ask, don't tell" arrangement with the federal government: Employers hired applicants if they claimed to be legal while officials turned a blind eye. In just 20 years, America had become home to a population of nearly 12 million new illegal immigrants.
The current Senate bill (S.2611) would simply require the establishment of an EEVS, leaving most of the details to Homeland Security bureaucrats. But as currently amended, the Senate bill calls for creating a document for immigrants that will be "machine-readable, tamper-resistant and incorporate a biometric identifier to allow the Secretary of Homeland Security to electronically verify the identity and status of the alien." In other words, when immigrants arrive, they will be issued sophisticated identification cards, which will not only list the holders' physical descriptions next to a digital photograph, but also include biometric coding for either fingerprints or a retinal scan. Using this identity document, employers will be able to verify within three days that prospective employees are legal. To enforce this policy, up to 10,000 new DHS personnel will be hired, and steep civil and criminal penalties will be levied on non-compliant employers.
Without a tamperproof employment verification system such as this, the other provisions of immigration reform will be dramatically weakened. If employers are able to hire illegal workers without consequence, then the demand for unauthorized immigration will persist, and no amount of enhanced border security will stop it.
Not only is electronic verification the overlooked nucleus of immigration reform, but it also is the missing piece that will link up with two other nascent policies, the so-called REAL ID and US-VISIT laws, to fundamentally change the way America does business.
REAL-ID was approved by Congress in 2005, requiring all state-issued licenses to share certain common features. Effective May 2008, state licenses must be interoperable, bearing common machine-readable technology. DHS has yet to specify, but all licenses may soon become "smartcards," equipped with a small computer chip, containing biometric data and enabling them to be used for any number of identification functions.
US-VISIT, currently employed at major airports throughout the country, is a program that requires visitors from almost all nations to have their index fingers scanned and a digital photograph taken upon their arrival. The immigration bill now before the Senate would extend US-VISIT to all entry points, which is critical because as many as 40 percent of current illegal residents came to this country not by sneaking across the border but by acquiring a legitimate visa and overstaying their allotted time.
REAL IDs in every state, US-VISIT at every port, and EEVS for every immigrant would mean that within two years, no one in this country will legally be able to get a job without a technologically advanced identification card. This makes some Americans uneasy. Many worry that these post-9/11 policies amount to a mandatory national ID card. Questions remain about safeguards against privacy intrusion and identity theft.
But as PPI has argued in several policy reports, the benefits of smart ID cards trump the concerns. While any new ID policy must be accompanied by robust precautions, it is evident that the current system of low-tech identity cards is simply untenable. As PPI's Rob Atkinson and Shane Ham put it in 2002:
The ease with which our "official" identity cards can be falsified is a public policy failure with implications far greater than 19 year olds buying tequila. False identification leads to billions of dollars in fraud every year, it allows wanted criminals to move feely, and it allows terrorists to plot attacks on the United States from within.
The effect of REAL ID, US-VISIT, and EEVS is a combination of state and federally administered, interoperable identity verification documents. PPI has responded to the important questions Americans have about such documents, concluding that high-tech smartcards can bring security and order to our system without the government encroaching into Americans' private lives.
As for the immigration bill working its way through Congress, lawmakers should shift the focus of the debate away from the border and to the workplace. It is the employment verification system, not border security, that will actually make or break this immigration reform.
