Tit for Tat

[donsu]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/28/AR2007012801172.html?nav=rss_politics


In Exchange for Records, Fewer Immigration Raids

Businesses Skeptical of New Federal Program


Over the past seven months, Bush administration officials have quietly toured the country, trying to persuade businesses that rely heavily on immigrant labor to join a little-known program that would spare them from embarrassing federal raids if they voluntarily handed over their workers' documents so the government can scan them for fraudulent information.

Officials at the Department of Homeland Security have asked companies to join the ICE Mutual Agreement Between Government and Employers program, known as IMAGE, operated by the department's Immigrations and Customs Enforcement division. It calls on businesses to submit all I-9 employee eligibility verification forms to ICE for an audit and to "ensure the accuracy of their wage reporting" by verifying workers' Social Security numbers, according to a description of the program.

-snip-

The government's efforts under IMAGE are much broader and deeper than those under another program, Basic Pilot, in which businesses voluntarily enroll. Companies that take part in Basic Pilot can check the Social Security numbers that job applicants provide against a national database of Social Security and immigration records.

-snip-

(read about Smithfield doing this and are now sorry for it.)

long snip


After the presentation, Regelbrugge raised his hand. "I can save you a lot of time," he recalled telling ICE officials. The vulnerabilities are "the existence of 1.6 million job opportunities, many of which are seasonal and intermittent," he said. "Virtually no Americans are applying to work in the fields."
-------------------------------


no americans applying for work in fields?