Immigration enforcers want to mine databases

The Homeland Security Department is seeking authority from Congress to mine databases containing Social Security numbers in order to identify illegal immigrants and the employers who knowingly hire them, according to senior department officials.

They described the plan as part of a comprehensive immigration enforcement strategy announced Thursday. But the strategy essentially cobbles together existing enforcement initiatives, such as efforts to deport criminal aliens and to dismantle criminal trafficking organizations.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department wants Congress to pass legislation that would let investigators with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency access Social Security Administration databases. According to ICE, millions of workers have given Social Security numbers to their employers that do not match their names, but ICE does not have access to data to investigate this activity.

"One of the key challenges that supports illegal migration is abuse of our Social Security system and the Social Security document," Chertoff said during a news conference. "We've been urging Congress to pass legislation, now before the Senate, that would grant the Department of Homeland Security some carefully crafted access to Social Security no-match data so we can detect those employers who are systematically employing workers, despite the fact that there's an obvious mismatch between the names and the Social Security numbers in question."

Chertoff also announced today that ICE conducted a nationwide worksite enforcement operation against IFCO Systems North America, the largest pallet-services company in the United States. Seven current and former IFCO managers were arrested on charges of conspiring to transport, harbor and encourage illegal immigration. ICE also apprehended almost 1,200 illegal aliens through the operation.

Chertoff said investigators learned that IFCO was employing illegal immigrants through a tip. Investigators obtained warrants to check Social Security databases and discovered that more than half of the company's employees were using invalid or mismatched numbers.

He said the operation points to the need for the legislation so investigators could be proactive rather than wait for tips.

The overall strategy announced Thursday has three elements: identify and remove criminal aliens, immigration fugitives and other immigration violators in the country; build strong worksite enforcement and compliance programs to deter illegal employment; and uproot criminal infrastructure domestically and abroad that supports illegal immigration, criminal trafficking and document or benefits fraud.

ICE has been conducting operations in all those areas since it was first created in 2003. By the end of fiscal 2007, Chertoff said, ICE will increase its fugitive operations teams from 35 to 50 and increase the number of agents dedicated to worksite enforcement from 325 to 525.

ICE Administrator Julie Myers said her agency also is training prison officers on how to deport illegal immigrants already in custody. She said 80,000 incarcerated immigrants were deported last year, and the plan is to increase that number by 10 percent each year for the next two years.

Chertoff downplayed criticism that the comprehensive strategy is simply repackaging existing efforts, saying it took the government years to develop and implement strategies to target organized crime.