What you didn't know about SSNVS (Social Security Number Verification System)
and how it was designed to fail.
Well it's in the news -- the house is going to launch an immigration bill in which one provision makes mandatory for employers to verify SSNs. Click here for L.A. Daily News story
I noticed the last two paragraphs said this:
Federal, state and local government employers - as well as the military and private employers at critical infrastructure sites like power plants - would have three years to check the eligibility status of their employees.
All other businesses would have six years. Verification would be done through the Department of Homeland Security.
In disbelief, I phoned Lisa Friedman who is the Daily News' Washington Bureau staff writer. According to her, here's how it works:
For new hires, employers would be required to immediately verify their social security number.
But for federal, state and local government employers - as well as the military and private employers at critical infrastructure sites like power plants would be required to verify SSNs for new hires, but would not have to verify SSNs of existing employees for three years.
All other companies would be required to verify SSNs for new hires, but would not have to verify SSNs of existing employees for six years -- yes, I said SIX years.
Do you think there is a coincedence between the six year requirement to verify SSNs for existing employees and the six year temporary work permit (amnesty) that President Bush wants? I don't think so!
About the SSNVS
As the head of a Political Action Committee (This website), I was required to obtain an EIN (Employer Identification Number) even if I never hire an employee. As such, that made me eligable to access the Social Security Agency to verify workers' SSNs. So I chose a password and applied for an activation code which was sent to me in two week by U.S. Mail.
The way the SSNVS works is to give the employer a work history of the new employee based on the SSN submitted so that the employer can match the SSN against the application that the employee is required to fill out.
I was going to experiment by attempting to verify the SSN of someone I know with both good information and bad information. But it turns out as said on this (lifted) Social Security Agency's page that an employer is not allowed to verify a social secutiy number before he hires the employee -- he must hire the employee on the assumption that he was given an authentic social security card.
"Do not use the service to verify SSNs of potential new hires or contractors"
Moreover, the employer must apply for a new and different activation code for each employee hired which as mentioned, takes two week to receive.
"If access is requested, your employer will be notified via first class mail, usually within 2 weeks. The notice will include an activation code which is needed to activate your request."
Will the new employer SSNVS requirements work?
It might work for high profile employers such as the Wal-Marts, meat packing industry, janitor service industry, etc., but only if it applied not only to new hires, but to all present employees as well. And there must be teeth in the enforcement with stiff fines and jail time for employers who fraudulantly hire illegal aliens.
It would not work for employers such as building contractors (who hire workers off the street), nannies, domestic workers, and many small factory workers, who pay their employees off the books.
Our president and many of our open border politicians, especially the ones that advocate amnesty, keep repeating the mantra that our immigration system is broken. Guess what? They broke it.
Make no mistake about it: Illegal aliens would not be able to cross the border with impunity and once crossed, enjoy virtual citizenship without the intentional help of the president and the congress. Nothing exemplifies this truth more than the bizarre oxymoronic non-coordination between the IRS, Social Security Agency, and Homeland Security which allows illegals to virtually work legally in the U.S.
Social Security numbers can be verified and/or validated. Verification is done to verify that the card holder is who he says he is. Validation is done to verify that the card holder's number is a valid Social Security number.
The federal government provides a Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS) online or telephone database accessible to ALL businesses who are employers which can verify an employee's SSN through the employees work history. But thus far, the SSNVS has been useless because it has never been mandatory to use.
While it is difficult to verify that the card holder actually has a valid Social Security Number assigned to him, any unsophisticated do-it-yourself amateur can check the validity of any Social Security number by going to this website.
For example, when I entered my own SSN, I got back:
The Social Security Number XXX-XX-XXXX
is valid and was issued in California.
This SSN is ACTIVE.
When I entered my late father's SSN, I got back:
The Social Security Number XXX-XX-XXXX
is valid and was issued in New York.
This SSN is NOT active.
The date of death was September 1976.
When I entered a valid ITIN number, I got back:
The Social Security Number 947-77-1439
is not valid.
You can even pay to subscribe to the many "people" search web sites that can validate that the SS card's name matches its number (I subscribe to Net Detective).
ITINs (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) are the numbers that are assigned to illegal aliens who file tax returns. Illegal aliens receive ITINs from the IRS when the IRS discovers that they are using phony Social Security Numbers (I'm not making this up).
What about the form I-9 that every employer must fill out on every new employee?
When I first heard about how employers had to fill out a Form I-9 on every new employee, it seemed that there should not have been a problem with work eligibility verification. But after viewing the Form I-9, incredibly, on the bottom of the principal fill out page it says:
EMPLOYERS MUST RETAIN COMPLETED FORM I-9
PLEASE DO NOT MAIL COMPLETED FORM I-9 TO ICE OR USCIS (US Citizen and Immigration Service)
That's right, the employer simply must file the I-9 in his desk drawer. The only time that the ICE would encounter the I-9, is if they audited the employer -- and the ICE rarely audits employers, and then only in sting operations such as was done to Wal-Mart in 2005. So will the new legislation that would require employers to verify work status of its employees solve the problem? Read on:
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Why the mandatory Social Security Number Verification system won't work to control illegal immigration.
