I know quite a bit about it in the construction trades.
First of all you have to know that the largest number of civil rights complaints that are made currently are not due to racial discrimination in the black/white sense but are made for "documantation" problems.
If small speciality trade contractors get the internet hook-ups at the jobsite to go to the Social Security website the first thing they saw in 2006 was a warning that a SSN and name that didn't prove up was not a reason to not hire or to discharge a new employee becuase they would be subjecting themselves to large liability where government attorneys would be taxpayer paid to prosecute them for civil rights complaints.
The DHS set up newer sites but they still aren't very simple and problem free to utilize.
I have seen hispanic workers that were worth over the union prevailing wage that had valid state drivers liscenses and what appeared to be valid SS cards, but who admitted to me that they didn't have a valid work status under ICE.
The employer needs to have some system or document to rely upon.It is events pushing to have the dreaded National ID card, unfortunantly.
I have heard non-hispanic immigrants that have managed to get valid SSNs while here illegally.
If you call ICE to try and check out two guys, you are going to get your whole workforce raided and checked and loose a ton of money and perhaps get sued. Construction is transiant, mobile and stop-start.
I know of a black guy who was in prison for four years. When the child support agency pulled his Dept of Labor records based on his SSN they found his number was being used by a woman with a hispanic surname who was working at JC Penney in Miami while he was incarcerated!
Obviously, she showed up with a valid SSN that didn’t match the name and a major employer hired her anyway!
It’s still an enforcement problem because they shouldn’t be threatening civil rights complaints. That also needs to be fixed, but I refuse to believe there are no construction jobs Americans won’t do. I know plenty of guys right now (ex cons included) who would love to do their construction jobs.
We should have absolutely full employment and more importantly, no one on welfare in this country before we open up an industry to guest workers. The only one I can think of is agriculture and there is a program in place for true MIGRANT workers who are here legally and return to Mexico when the harvest is complete.
“Putting a lot of this on the employers by changing the I-9 rules is making the employer responsible for the problem the government created.”
And you trust the governenment to do anything?
You make a lot of sense. I blame this more on governments than business.