Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

3/6/03  News Report -- The MetroWest Daily News (Framingham, Mass.)

With many local immigrants likely to lose their jobs because they bought Social Security cards in a ring uncovered by federal officials, local employers say it's difficult to figure out if documents are fraudulent.

As long as employers do not knowingly hire an employee with fake documents, they are not legally accountable. But some business owners go further than others to detect fraud.

Greg Hart, owner of Cedar Hill Landscape Inc. in Framingham, said he checks with the Registry of Motor Vehicles to see whether driver's licenses provided by prospective employees are valid.

"We don't want anybody with an invalid license driving our vehicles," he said.

Tom Forte, owner of Forte Landscaping and Construction, also in Framingham, said he would fire employees if he found out they had fake documents. But discovering that up front would be too difficult, he said.

"We do ask for documentation. They do come up with Social Security cards, they come up with licenses and working papers. Whether they're legal or not, I don't know," Forte said. "I'm not an expert."

Getting proper documentation is a problem faced by a large local Brazilian population, some of whom are in the country illegally. Hundreds of those apparently turned to an operation in downtown Framingham that the federal government accuses of selling Social Security cards for $2,500 each.

The business allegedly sold 1,746 Social Security cards to immigrants, 853 of whom used them to obtain driver's licenses in Massachusetts. Now the Registry of Motor Vehicles has begun canceling those licenses, putting many jobs in jeopardy. The immigrants may face deportation.

The situation will devastate many immigrants, noted Ted Welte, president of the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce. Still, the economic impact on the region will not be great, he said.

"If this had happened in 1998 or early 1999, I think it would have had a more difficult impact," he said. "Now there are fewer openings. There are people to take the jobs that are vacated because of the situation. That doesn't help individuals who are going to lose their jobs."

Employers who hired the immigrants with false documents can only be held accountable if they didn't fill out I-9 forms or if they knew they were unauthorized, said Paula Grenier, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

"Generally speaking, the employer is in pretty good shape as long as they haven't knowingly accepted anything illegal," noted Peter Christie, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association.

Employers are easily fooled, Grenier said.

"There are really good counterfeit documents out there,' she said. "Employers are not experts in immigrant documentation."

However, undocumented immigrants have to worry about more than deportation. Unscrupulous employers or landlords can easily take advantage of immigrants in the country illegally, Grenier said.

"Anyone who knows they're here illegally may want to hold it over their heads," she said.