IMAGE Program From
Homeland Security |
Over the past
several months, Bush administration officials
and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) have been trying to convince businesses
that rely heavily on foreign workers to join a
little-known program that would spare them from
federal raids so long as they voluntarily handed
over their workers' documents so the government
can scan them for fraudulent information.
To prevent unlawful employment and reduce
vulnerabilities that help illegal aliens gain
employment, the Department of Homeland Security
introduced the ICE Mutual Agreement between
Government and Employers (IMAGE) program. The
goal is to assist employers in developing a more
secure and stable workforce and to enhance
fraudulent document awareness through education
and training.
The program calls on businesses to submit all
I-9 employee eligibility verification forms to
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) for an
audit and to ensure the accuracy of wage
reporting by verifying workers' Social Security
numbers.
As part of IMAGE, ICE will provide education and
training on proper hiring procedures, fraudulent
document detection, use of the Basic Pilot
Employment Verification Program and
anti-discrimination procedures. To obtain these
benefits, a company will have to submit to an
I-9 audit by ICE, and verify the Social Security
numbers of their existing labor forces.
According to ICE: “the IMAGE program also serves
to foster improved relations with businesses
vital to U.S. national interests as part of
ICE’s role in critical infrastructure
protection.”
Currently, participation in the program is
voluntary. An employer that complies with IMAGE
will become “IMAGE certified,” a distinction ICE
hopes will become an industry standard.
The government's efforts under IMAGE are much
broader than those under another program, Basic
Pilot, in which businesses voluntarily enroll.
Companies that take part in Basic Pilot can
check the Social Security numbers provided by
job applicants against a national database of
Social Security and immigration records.
In December 2006, ICE rounded up nearly 1,300
immigrants in raids on meatpacking plants run by
Swift & Co. The arrests were highly criticized
by Swift’s President, who stated that the
company relied in good faith on the Basic Pilot
program, and had participated in the program
since 1997. The system, however, did not
identify stolen Social Security numbers or
numbers that are being used in multiple
locations. A Swift spokesperson stated that the
company will not participate in the IMAGE
program since they do not see any benefit in
signing up for additional obligations when the
Basic Pilot program had flaws in identifying
illegal workers. |
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