INS PROPOSES USING PRIVATE CONTRACTOR TO REVIEW EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION

In 1998, the INS announced a large-scale investigation into the meatpacking industry in the Midwest.  This investigation, known as Operation Vanguard, was halted last summer after the Social Security Administration refused to open its records to the INS.  Social Security was concern that the INS’ plan to check information on all workers using social security records was a privacy violation. 

While talks between the INS and the Social Security Administration are still ongoing, the INS has also been approaching private contractors about doing the checks.  Under this plan, the contractor would run information collected by the INS through commercially available databases.  According to the INS, one sample review conducted by a potential contractor uncovered 80 workers who were using the social security numbers of dead people.                 

This new plan has not met with favorable reactions from advocacy groups who feel it has the same problems that prompted the Social Security Administration to end its cooperation in the program.  They are also concerned that the INS’s plan to check employment authorization of all workers even when there is a reason to believe they are undocumented not only violates the workers’ privacy, but also unfairly targets Hispanics, who make up the bulk of workers in the meatpacking industry.  The plan is also opposed by the industry itself, which fears the investigation will drive workers away.