[Harmless Teddy Bear]

All they would have to do is require U.S. employers to check the legal status of all employees

And how do you suggest that we do that? The only sure way is to have all American citizens finger printed and check the prints of all potential hires against a data base.

Anything else is going to have holes big enough to drive a truck through just like it does now.

You make the requirements too onerous and you are going to dry up the summer help jobs for teens even worse then you have already.

[madprof98]

And how do you suggest that we do that?

Congress could also appropriate money for a nationwide computer system that would allow all employers to get instant verification of a worker's Social Security number and then require all employers to use it.

How is this so "onerous" that it will end summer jobs for teens?

[Sam the Sham]

Gee it would be so expensive and impossible to tell the difference between someome from Oaxaca and someone from Kansas City.

[lucysmom]

The only sure way is to have all American citizens finger printed and check the prints of all potential hires against a data base.

I was finger printed when I got a driver's license.I've also been figer printed when doing business with a bank where I was not a regular customer.

[calex59]

And how do you suggest that we do that? The only sure way is to have all American citizens finger printed and check the prints of all potential hires against a data base.

I call BS on your statement that we can't check legal status. SS numbers allow us to do that, without finger printing etc. Either a SS is legitimate or it is not, if legitimate someone is already using it and it has a name, discription, age of person, address etc. tied to it. If they check the number and Mary so and so has this number and is working in Utah, it can hardly belong to Jose who is trying to get a job in Texas. If the number is not legit, this will also show up during a check.

Your statement is very like all the other statements uttered by people who want ILLEGALS in the country for one reason or another, it is just a defeatist statement aimed at trying to discourage people from calling for enforcement of our existing laws.

We need no new immigration laws, we merely need to enforce the ones we have now.

[SauronOfMordor]

And how do you suggest that we do that? The only sure way is to have all American citizens finger printed and check the prints of all potential hires against a data base.

Thirty years ago, you only got an SS# when you started work, but currently all American citizens get SS#'s assigned at birth, and that's been the case for a while.

Back when I was an employer I had to fill out a state form every quarter for unemployment compensation taxes, that listed the SS# of every employee and how many weeks they worked

All it takes is a central web site where employers log the employee-provided SS# and name. If the number is invalid, it kicks out immediately. If the same number is provided for too many different employers, in locations too far apart to make it seem likely that the same person is really working there, the employer gets a follow-up call. If too many hits occur against an employer, he gets a surprise visit from INS