Reply #6: Many employers don't know who the "illegals" are

[Tansy_Gold]

the employer fills out an I-9 form with a driver's license and a social security card for IDs. the picture of the license looks about right -- hey, do any of us look like our DL photo? -- and there's nothing on a SS card that provides identification.

So the employer processes the payroll and deposits the funds LEGALLY, but these workers are never going to be around to collect what they've paid in.

And if more than one person is using that SSN, there's even more going into the kitty than they'll ever get back out.

I've processed these I-9s. I've gone out to the jobsites on construction projects and i've had these guys sign their I-9s and they all say they're citizens and they all have DLs and SSNs and no, they don't speak much English, and they probably go "home" to Mexico every week-end, but does the employer dare not pay into OASDI and Medicare?

I-9s don't get filed with anyone except the employer, who is required to keep a copy and produce it if they're ever audited by USCIS (formerly INS). And all the employer has to prove is that they got the documentation and they believed it was legit.

Two weeks ago, I applied for a job, but I didn't have my original official SS card. The employer wouldn't take any other ID (don't get me started on what the law is and how they are required to take other forms of ID; I know that and it's not relevant) and so I had to go to the SS office and apply for a duplicate. It took a week to arrive in the mail and I was forced to wait an extra week to start work.

My husband was telling a co-worker about this dilemma and she laughed and said she could probably have got me a SS card that would have passed any kind of scrutiny for about $50 on the street.

The point being that despite what the xenophobes and anti-illegal-immigrant folks say, there is much more paid into the system in the form of OASDI, Medicare, FIT, SIT, SDI, UIC taxes for undocumented immigrants than is skimmed off by unscrupulous employers.

Are there people who take advantage of the illegals and line their pockets with SS taxes? Sure. But more often than not they're individuals have a nanny or an au pair or a pool guy or a mover that they pay cash and never think twice about.