Immigration Enforcement

As the Senate debates the latest immigration “reform” bill some critics have rightly criticized Washington for not enforcing existing immigration laws.  They question, “What makes you think you’ll enforce the new laws any better than the current ones?”

Obviously, they can write laws that are very tough but if they aren’t enforced we are no better off than before.

So, let’s take an example from the 1986 amnesty plan.  In 1986 the government made a Social Security card mandatory for children over 5-years-old.  In 1990 that was changed to 1-year-old.  You cannot claim a dependent on your taxes without one.  So it has become customary to get one along with a birth certificate before the baby leaves the hospital.

So, everyone has a Social Security card.  Presumably there is a giant database with the information.  When we get a job our employer sends money to the government to build our account.  Every few years we get a report from the Social Security Administration showing our earnings history and other information based on our number.

Between the IRS and the SSA we have a pretty good idea about the payroll activity of every card out there.  And when someone retires we have additional information.  And we report to the SSA when we die so they don’t keep sending out retirement checks.

So far, so good.

I’m not sure if Washington gets sloppy or lazy, but we know that these problems regularly occur:

• People make up fake Social Security cards with made-up numbers.
• People use the Social Security numbers of other adults.
• People use the Social Security numbers of their anchor baby children.
• People use the Social Security numbers of other children.
• People use the Social Security numbers of dead people.

And when they do it is perfectly feasible to believe that the clerk in the personnel office would accept a card without knowing it doesn’t belong to the person in front of them.

But rather quickly the government knows or should know that there has been a mistake.  Surely made-up numbers, children and dead people would be easy enough to spot.  And enforcement would be fairly straightforward.  The employee has a problem with their card.  Go to the government and sort it out.  After 30 days you either have the issue resolved or you don’t have a job.

If a pattern emerges or the same number pops up in one geographic area, perhaps ICE gets involved.

But as it now stands, the Social Security number is widely compromised.  Take for example the blatant and wide-spread fraud described here: http://alienrants.blogspot.com/2012/05/paying-for-global-children.html

You would think that if the government wasn’t going to require E-Verify at least they would enforce Social Security number fraud.  After all, ONE THIRD of all the foreign-born people living in America are here illegally.

So, pardon me if I don’t believe Marco Rubio and his Gang when they talk about tough enforcement measures in the new bill.  It takes money, effort and the political will to enforce the law.  And all three of those are in short supply in Washington.  When even the union representing immigration officers complains that Obama won’t let them do their job you know we have reached a new low.