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Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2006 12:40:00 -0400
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From: "R.A. Hettinga"
Subject: [Clips] Fake IDs are rife at state job sites
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http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/06/18/fake_ids_are_rife_at_st...
The Boston Globe
Fake IDs are rife at state job sites
Mass. contractors hire the undocumented
By Jonathan Saltzman and Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff | June 18, 2006
While Republican lawmakers in Massachusetts have called for a crackdown on
companies that hire undocumented workers, the state has provided millions
of dollars to contractors who employed those workers, records indicate.
A Globe analysis of nine recent public works projects -- from dormitory
construction at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth to the
building of the new Middlesex County Jail -- revealed that of 242 workers
on weekly payroll lists, more than a third appeared to lack legitimate
Social Security numbers.
On one of the payrolls reviewed, for masonry work on the UMass dormitory
project, nearly two-thirds of the contractor's 87 workers had bogus or
questionable Social Security numbers.
The numbers used by the workers in many cases appeared obviously
fraudulent. One laborer who helped build the new jail in Billerica
submitted a number that should have immediately raised eyebrows:
666-66-6666.
Some numbers belonged to people who were long-deceased, the Globe found.
Others were matched to people who live out of state and had no idea their
numbers had been appropriated.
The findings, though a small snapshot of the vast number of public projects
undertaken throughout the state, suggest how the use of undocumented
workers has extended into almost every corner of the economy. Republicans
in Massachusetts trumpeted plans last month to stiffen fines on companies
that knowingly hire undocumented immigrants, which is illegal under state
law. But there is no requirement that employers, including those receiving
public funds, demonstrate that their workers are legal, and undocumented
workers employed on the projects say that contractors are all too happy to
look the other way.
Overall, the bulk of the money for the projects examined by the Globe came
from state appropriations or state-backed bonds, though some of the
contracts were awarded by local municipalities.
Told of the Globe's findings, Senator Richard R. Tisei , a Wakefield
Republican, said public money should be given only to those companies who
hire legal residents.
``There should be a big hue and cry about this across the state," Tisei
said. ``This is taxpayers' money, and taxpayers' money should be used in
legal ways."
Obtaining an authentic-looking Social Security card with a made-up or
stolen number is easy, according to undocumented workers, who said they
purchased them outside T stations or from friends. In the age of laser
printers and graphics software, fake cards can be had for as little as $80.
The Globe obtained weekly payroll reports filed with state and local
authorities on the nine public projects examined. Reporters and a Globe
researcher ran the workers' Social Security numbers through three on line
personal information databases that compile valid Social Security numbers.
Many yielded no matches in those databases, or they matched other people ,
including deceased ones . In other instances, the names of the workers came
up, but so did the names of other people, making those numbers questionable.
In addition, workers and construction industry specialists said that hiring
of immigrants who are here illegally was common on the public projects
reviewed.
In interviews with state, local, and county government officials and
managers of companies that received contracts, a clear pattern emerged:
none of them considered it their responsibility to verify that workers on
the public projects were here legally.
The state and municipal officials said they take no steps to check on the
workers' status, saying that duty lies with the contractors. Contractors,
in turn, said they obey federal laws that call for them to ask for
employees' documentation, but do not require them to inquire further.
Under federal law, employers must complete a so-called I-9 document after
hiring an employee. The employer must examine sets of documents that
establish the employee's identity and eligibility to work in the country.
Some identification cards are sufficient to ful fill both requirements,
such as a green card or a certificate of US citizenship. Other times,
employees rely on a state or locally issued photo ID card, such as a
driver's license, to establish their identity, and a Social Security card
for their work eligibility.
Federal immigration guidelines only require that the documents ``appear to
be genuine" and stress to employers that they are not expected to be
``document experts." Raymond W. Houle Jr. town administrator in the small
town of Blackstone on the Rhode Island border, said he was ``quite
surprised" to learn payroll records show that six of the eight workers for
M K Painting of Michigan, which painted a million-gallon steel water
storage tank in his town, had bogus or questionable Social Security
numbers. But he said he expected the contractor would have checked.
``The town did not hire these people," Houle said. ``The town hired the
contractor."
John Bethell, superintendent of M K Painting, said he was unaware his
company had hired workers who lacked valid Social Security numbers.
``We ask them for their documents, and they give us their documents," said
Bethell, whose company brought workers to Blackstone from Texas and the
Midwest. ``We're not private eyes."
Romeo D'Agostino, an owner of D'Agostino Associates Inc. of Newton, which
had 19 instances of workers with bogus or questionable Social Security
numbers on public school projects in Littleton and North Easton, said he
received about a dozen letters from the Social Security Administration last
year informing him that the agency found various workers' numbers did not
match any of their records. Occasionally, when a worker's Social Security
number does not match the name on tax documents, the SSA sends out such
letters asking the worker to resolve the discrepancy.
D'Agostino said the law requires him only to pass the letters on to the
employees, which he did. Some of those workers still are employed by him,
he said.
``I can only do so much," D'Agostino said. ``I follow the letter of the law."
In a brief tele phone interview, Paul M. Alves, president of Lighthouse
Masonry of New Bedford, said he knew nothing about undocumented workers at
his business.
``I don't know what you're talking about," he said, and hung up.
At UMass-Dartmouth, Lighthouse Masonry got a $9.8 million contract to help
build six dormitories in 2004. Of the 87 workers on the payroll reviewed,
55 had questionable or bogus Social Security numbers.
A university spokesman said the school is not equipped to enforce
immigration laws.
``The university concerns itself with getting the job done," said John Hoey
, a spokesman for UMass-Dartmouth.
Specialists on both sides of the immigration debate agree the federal
government has done a dismal job of enforcing immigration laws, and that
that is why so many undocumented workers -- and the companies that employ
them -- thrive. The workers are attractive to some construction firms
because they will typically work for lower wages and are less likely to
complain to authorities about labor violations.
An immigration overhaul measure recently passed by the Senate would make it
mandatory for employers to verify Social Security numbers with Homeland
Security.
In interviews, two undocumented immigrants who worked on public
construction projects said it was easy to obtain the Social Security
numbers and get on the contractors' payroll.
An immigrant from Brazil who said he worked from 2001 to 2005 for
D'Agostino and then Lighthouse Masonry said that he bought his bogus Social
Security card from a friend of a friend for $80. The 24-year-old, who
overstayed his visa after it expired in 2001, said his friend encouraged
him to make up a 9-digit number for the card, so he used part of his
mother's phone number in Brazil.
``You have to remember the number, and that's a number I can remember,"
said the masonry worker, who lives in Burlington and insisted on anonymity
to avoid detection by authorities.
The number he made up belongs to a Quincy woman, according to the Globe
search .
He said he felt guilty using the made-up number -- ``I'm a Christian," he
explained -- but felt he had no choice.
Federal authorities have stepped up their attempts to ferret out phony
Social Security numbers over the last few years. Earlier this month,
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced proposals designed
to allow employers to act more quickly on mismatches, but most of those are
not in place.
No state in the country mandates that employers substantiate their workers
are legal, according to the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington,
D.C. Georgia recently passed a measure that would do so as of July 1, 2007.
A spokesman for Governor Mitt Romney said it was unsurprising state money
was used to pay undocumented immigrants.
``The governor is not surprised that our current immigration laws are a
mess," said Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom. ``We expect employers to
abide by the laws of the nation, but that is difficult to do when we have a
lax system of enforcement, and a situation where anyone can acquire a
forged Social Security card."
But immigration specialists say public officials simply lack the will to
take on the problem.
``If a newspaper can run the numbers and find out whether they're good, the
fact that the government isn't doing it is a clear indication of how
successive administrations have chosen not to enforce the law," said Steven
A. Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies.
``The fact that it's so easy to do and we don't require it is absurd."
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R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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-----------------
R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'