The Key To Effective Immigration Reform

In testimony before the House Immigration Subcommittee, Jack Shadley of Swift & Company detailed the shortcomings of the “Basic Pilot” employment verification system. Despite the company’s hiring processes, which include participation in Basic Pilot – and that go above and beyond what is required by federal or state law – Swift was targeted for plant raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Mr. Shadley detailed the following Swift & Company hiring procedure in his testimony:

• First, in accordance with federal law, every new Swift employee is required to complete an I-9 form and provide one or more forms of government issued photo identification …

• Second, … Swift has participated in this [Basic Pilot] program since 1997 and every production employee hired since then has had his or her Social Security number run through a government database that subsequently returned an employment authorization …

• Third, … [Swift] enhanced [its] standard new hire interviewing and information evaluation procedures to allow [them] to better detect identity fraud in a non-discriminatory way.

Despite these facts, the government raided six Swift production facilities on the morning of December 12th, 2006, and detained 1,282 employees. Many were using stolen identities that could not be detected by Basic Pilot. This event cost the company more than $30 million and disrupted communities that Swift has worked hard to enrich.
“It is particularly galling to us that an employer who played by all the rules and used the only available government tool to screen employee eligibility would be subjected to adversarial treatment by our government.  These ICE raids once again highlight significant weaknesses in the Basic Pilot program ….”

Visit www.legal-workforce.org for a copy of Mr. Shadley’s testimony and to learn more about secure employment verification.