Thursday, April 13, 2006 | 7:12 a.m.
If you think the immigration law has nothing to do with you, think again. The bill being debated in Congress includes a provision that would create a national system to verify every worker's legal status.
All of the nation's 8.4 million employers would be required to electronically send the names and Social Security numbers of their employees over the Internet to be checked against two government databases.
Opponents call it burdensome to small businesses and say it opens up the potential for identity theft.
Supporters say it is crucial to holding businesses that hire undocumented workers accountable.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman Jim Manley said the Nevada senator supports the system and called it "a targeted program necessary to enforce immigration laws."
The bill would expand a voluntary pilot program, which has about 3,600 employers .
Manley said while no one is currently "fighting over" the issue, it is an important one in the debate.
He said among the top priorities for Reid is "employer sanctions for those caught hiring undocumented workers."
Gary Peck, American Civil Liberties Union executive director in Nevada, called the proposed system "the first step toward establishing a national ID card."
Peck said the provision contains "absolutely no privacy protections and leaves all the nation's workforce ripe as potential identity theft victims, all so the government can bring us that much closer to being a police state."
A Government Accountability Office report last year said that the pilot program failed to detect identity fraud and experienced many delays and mistakes because of data entry.
The report also raised concerns that if the pilot program were expanded to include more employers, timely verification of workers would be unlikely.
Peck said even if one is to assume "a near-perfect accuracy rate," millions of eligible American workers could still have their right to work seriously "delayed or denied while they resolve errors because the plan fails to provide any opportunity to appeal situations in which those recording information get something wrong."
The GAO noted that there were no cost estimates for establishing a nationwide Internet-based system, but President Bush's budget calls for $111 million to expand the program.
Christina Dugan, Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce vice president of public affairs, said she recognized the problems lawmakers are dealing with but was concerned about the cost to business.
"While we are not here to help hide businesses who are hiring undocumented workers, we also don't feel the enforcement burden should be placed so greatly on the backs of business, especially not small businesses," she said.
Dugan said the proposed system would specifically hinder the abilities of small-business owners.
"These are the owners who do the hiring, firing and take out the garbage every day all by themselves, and expecting them to take on this much of the enforcement is just a bigger burden for them," she said.
She said the chamber doesn't support "blanket amnesty" but instead helping those who can prove they have been living and working in the valley to become legal workers. It also supports a guest worker program that would allow other immigrants to become documented members of the workforce.
She said the undocumented workers in Las Vegas are "vital to our economy, and to pull them out of the population would cause severe economic problems."
Mark Edwards, founder of Wake Up America, a Las Vegas-based anti-illegal immigration group whose message is broadcast on a radio program, said he's fed up with businesses making excuses when it comes to helping police undocumented workers.
"I'm for coming down hard on the employers," Edwards said. "They complain about how hard it is to verify a worker, but at the same time, employers are going 'wink, wink' when they look at workers' documents, turning their heads and saying, 'Looks good to me, let's go to work.' "
Edwards said he's in favor of the verification system, even if it opens up another avenue for those seeking to steal identities.
"Don't worry about identity theft, there are enough ways to do that already," Edwards said. "Instead, close the borders, bring security to our borders. Let these people come through the proper channels with the proper documentation, and then we'll worry about identity theft."
The verification system has also garnered the support of many of the nation's leading lawmakers, including the Western Governors' Association - Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn is a director of the bipartisan group.
In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, the association said such a system will "encourage enforcement of current federal employer sanctions for knowingly hiring undocumented labor."
"The federal government must adopt a secure, reliable and fast employment verification system accessible to employees electronically on a 24/7 basis," the letter said.
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