Burning Atlanta

This is a voluntary sytem that should be mandatory. It doesn't catch every illegal but it does weed out a whole bunch of them.

Make it the Law of the Land

The verification program, which is now voluntary, can tell employers if a worker’s name doesn’t match with a Social Security number, or if the Social Security number doesn’t exist in its records. But it can’t catch identity theft where a name and matching Social Security number have been stolen.

Similarly, raids at Swift & Co. meat processing plants around the country uncovered more than 1,000 workers processed through the Basic Pilot program who were undocumented.

Still, with political pressure building to slow illegal immigration by making jobs harder to come by, Michael Chertoff, head of the Department of Homeland Security, has asked Congress to make the program mandatory for all businesses. And despite its loopholes, Missouri legislators are debating a bill that would make every business in Missouri use the program.

“Basic Pilot is not a cure-all, but it is a step forward,” said Missouri Sen. Chris Koster, a Harrisonville Republican who is backing a bill that would make businesses in the state use Basic Pilot.

Proponents say the system is free, accessible by Internet and can open up jobs for legal workers by weeding out illegal immigrants.

But the program’s inability to detect identity theft leads some to question whether it makes much of a difference in stopping illegal immigration or in protecting businesses from hiring undocumented workers.

Bogus alibi. It does make a difference, a very big difference.

Basic Pilot handled 902,000 queries between its start in 1997 and May 2006.

•In 774,000 cases, workers were declared eligible fairly quickly.

•In 128,000 cases, Basic Pilot tentatively said it couldn’t confirm eligibility. In 25,000 of those cases, workers challenged that finding. In 5,200 of those challenges, workers proved their eligibility.

Bottom line: About 779,000 workers passed Basic Pilot and 123,000 did not.

To sign up for participation in the Basic Pilot Employment Eligibility Verification Program, visit https://www.vis-dhs.com/