WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley today offered an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill that would reiterate the need for the agencies of the federal government to hire only legal immigrants. The amendment requires the Department of Homeland Security and its contractors to use the basic pilot program to check the eligibility of their workers.
The basic pilot program, authorized in 1996, is a free tool allowing all employers to electronically verify the work authorization of newly hired workers.
“In 1986 we never predicted how easily available counterfeit documents would be. But, technology has become so sophisticated and inexpensive that fake identification can be found around nearly every corner,” Grassley said. “The basic pilot program is a useful tool in enforcing our immigration laws. If any federal agency should be using the program, it’s the Department of Homeland Security.”
In correspondence last January, the Department of Homeland Security told Grassley that more than 400 federal agencies already use the basic pilot program. But, nearly all of those federal offices are part of the legislative branch. At this time only five of the 22 agencies within the department are using the basic pilot program.
“I’m ashamed that the Department of Homeland Security is setting such a bad example for the rest of the country,” Grassley said. “If anybody should be using the basic pilot program, the department in charge of securing our homeland should be.”
Grassley also said that contractors within the Department of Homeland Security have been cited in the media for employing illegal aliens. News reports indicated that some of the illegal immigrants were working in sensitive areas.
The basic pilot program was first authorized in 1996 allowing only six states to participate. The program was reauthorized in 2001 and then expanded in 2003. The last expansion allowed employers in all 50 states the opportunity to voluntarily use the program.
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