They do. All they are required to do is verify that the name matches the number.>>>>>
Has it been changed ??? Last I heard this was still a "voluntary" program for employers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1037329/posts
(snip)
President Bush signs workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal Aliens
S. 1685, the Basic Pilot Extension Act of 2003, was signed by President Bush on December 3, 2003.
It will extend for five years the workplace employment eligibility authorization pilot programs created in 1996. It will also expand the pilot programs from the original five states to all 50 states. Thus, all employers in the United States will have the option of participating, although the program would remain voluntary.
This program is an important component of preventing illegal aliens from taking jobs from those who have the legal right to work in this country.
How it works: By December of 2004, every business in America will have a nearly sure-fire way to verify if a new employee is an illegal alien or has the right to work in America.
Most importantly, no business in America will have an excuse for hiring illegals.
Right now , the job of trying to figure out if the ID shown by a new employee is a counterfeit or not is just daunting. That is sometimes a legitimate excuse and sometimes a smokescreen for why so many businesses have illegal aliens working for them. But with the new system, businesses merely use existing documents (social security cards and alien identification cards) and existing databases (SSA and BCIS databases) to verify employment eligibility. An employer using the system simply calls an 800 number, provides the name and the Social Security number or the alien ID number, as presented by the new hire, and then he receives either a confirmation indicating that the worker is authorized to work in the US or a tentative non-confirmation if the number and name provided do not match SSA or BCIS data. In the case of a tentative non-confirmation, the new hire has the right to contact SSA or BCIS and try to fix the problem BEFORE the employer may fire the new hire.
But the program is voluntary. The rotten, exploitative, unpatriotic businesses will still tend to keep hire illegal aliens or just not participate in the verification system.
Only a few companies, in the scheme of things, have signed up for this verification service. Most must want the option of hiring illegals and saying, "geez, sorry, we didn't know. It ought to be mandatory to use this free service.
Every time I write this people think this is a good thing. It's not enough. Not nearly enough.