Dreier Comments on GAO Report on Employment Verification Weaknesses

September 21, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman David Dreier (R-CA), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, made the following statement today in reaction to a report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that outlined significant weaknesses in current employment verification and worksite enforcement efforts:

"This GAO report underscores the very problem that obstructs our efforts to curb illegal immigration: document fraud. According to the report, the use of fraudulent documents has it made it more difficult for employers to accurately know if they are hiring legal workers, and easier for those employers who do hire illegal immigrants to claim that they did so inadvertently. It also finds that the effectiveness of existing efforts to crack down on the hiring of illegals is far too dependent on the ability to detect forged documents.

"This report makes it clear that we need to implement the Bonner Plan. This legislation gets to the root of the problem by providing employers with a tool to verify work authorization status with the swipe of a card or a phone call. It creates a tamper free, ‘smart’ Social Security card which employers can use to verify an prospective employees’ work eligibility with the Department of Homeland Security. It also calls for the hiring of an additional 10,000 new DHS employees dedicated to enforcement of this critical requirement.

"It’s obvious that the current system is too jumbled, too old fashioned, and too understaffed to function effectively. In a post-9/11 world, that is unacceptable. I believe the Bonner Plan should be a big part of the solution to this very serious problem."

Congressman Dreier is the original sponsor of H.R. 98, the Illegal Immigration Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act of 2005. Also known as the Bonner Plan, the legislation would establish standards for a counterfeit proof Social Security card and enhance employer sanctions for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

GAO REPORT
GAO REPORT - SUMMARY