By Matt Mayer

Here is another case that illustrates the weakness of the current I-9 system. Looks like Overhill Farms in Vernon, California, had employed over 260 illegal immigrants who had used invalid or fraudulent Social Security Numbers to get their jobs. This issue came to light after an IRS desk audit discovered that 260 employees had provided bad SSNs. Despite the findings, the federal government did "not mandate that those employees be fired." Overhill Farms made the decision to fire the illegal immigrants only after talking with THREE different law firms (I guess they forum shopped to try and find a law firm that would give them the advice they wanted). Although the union representing the illegal immigrants is crying foul, Overhill Farms "gave the workers 30 days to correct the problem with the IRS and provide the company with verification, but none did so." That is right -- not one of the 260 employees came forward with ANY proof that they were in fact citizens or lawfully present in the United States. Once again illustrating both the fallacy that "Americans won't do this kind of work" and the importance of reserving U.S. jobs for legal workers, Overhill Farms has filled all of the $10 an hour jobs with citizens and/or legal immigrants at a time when California's unemployment rate is 10.9%. Overhill Farms is now voluntarily using the E-Verify system for new hires. Only three states -- Arizona, Mississippi, and South Carolina -- have laws in place that require private sector employers to use the E-Verify system, so much more can be done by states to protect their citizens from the threat of cheap illegal labor. So far, two federal appellate courts (9th Circuit and 8th Circuit) have upheld the mandatory use of the E-Verify system. For its part, the federal government continues to prevent SSA from sharing 'No Match' letter data with DHS and DHS recently pushed back the mandatory use of E-Verify for government contractors.