Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

3/16/02  News Report -- The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer

When David arrived in Charlotte last month, he went looking for a job carrying a fake Social Security card.

It worked: He's now cleaning rooms at a hotel, sending much of what he earns back to his wife and kids in Central America.

David, who's in his 30s, knows he could go to jail or be deported for using the authentic-looking card, which he bought -- along with a fraudulent "green card" -- for $140.

"It's worth the risk," he says through an interpreter. "It's the only way for me to get a job in this rich country."

Getting a nine-digit number that can pass for the U.S. government-issued ID is often the first order of business for illegal immigrants who come to boomtowns such as Charlotte.

But after Sept. 11, the same fake numbers are increasingly tipping off security-conscious agencies looking to track down people in the country illegally.

After auditing employment records at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, the Immigration and Naturalization Service announced last week that it had identified more than 260 illegal immigrants. Among them: 65 indicted on charges of using false information to get access to secure areas.

The Social Security Administration is also cracking down, sending letters to Harris Teeter and Food Lion in recent months that resulted in the firing of dozens of undocumented Latino employees of their N.C. stores.

Late this year, Social Security also will begin sending letters to every company that has even one employee whose name and number don't match. Before, only businesses with a high percentage of workers with bad numbers would get letters.

The change doesn't mean federal agents will soon be swooping down on every grocery store, hotel and lawn service with illegal immigrants on their payroll, says Buster Williams, an Atlanta-based agent of the Social Security Administration who participated in the investigation at Charlotte/Douglas.

"But I can tell you that 9/11 definitely heightened the interest in working these type cases."

Reputation of working hard

Before homeland security became the nation's watchword, many businesses were so eager to hire Hispanics, who had a reputation for working hard for little pay, that they took little notice of obviously fake documents.  Deb McLean, vice president of marketing at Charlotte Metro Credit Union, even heard of some Latinos who tried to open accounts with phony Social Security numbers supplied by their companies.

"Some would say, 'My employer told me to use this number,' " she says.

Sept. 11 has quieted such talk. And the airport sweep, one of several around the country that snared mostly Mexican janitors, has re-ignited the Carolinas debate over illegal immigration.

No one can say how many undocumented workers live in the two states, but North Carolina has the country's fastest-growing Latino population; South Carolina ranks sixth.

In the past week, many local listeners of talk radio have called in to applaud the airport arrests and urge the INS to step up enforcement of immigration laws.

But many businesses would like to find a way to legalize immigrant workers.

"I don't think the federal government realizes what a pivotal role these Hispanic workers play in our economy," says Jim Johnson, a professor of management at UNC Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School.

"If these actions continue, it's going to be like a house of cards -- our economy is going to crumble."

All about the number

Since 1937, Social Security has been withdrawing money from paychecks, then counting it toward workers' retirement. The numbers Americans are assigned when they begin working keep track of who is to get what.

But in the past 20 years, the Social Security number has effectively become a person's ID -- "the main number," says McLean of the credit union.

"It really took off with the strides in technology," she says. "Colleges use it to keep track of students. Many states use it for driver's licenses. Banks and credit unions use it to open accounts and check credit histories."

And businesses are required to ask for it when hiring.

That's the first lesson newcomers learn when they arrive in the States: To work, they must have a Social Security number.

But since illegal immigrants can't get one from the government, they buy one.

According to interviews with illegal immigrants and those who work with them, more than a dozen underground forgers cater to Spanish-speakers in Charlotte. African and Asian immigrants, they say, have their own networks.

Typically, immigrants who want a fake ID will rely on friends or word of mouth to get a forger's cell phone or pager number.

"I need some help getting documents to work," the immigrant might say when someone answers.

There's no mention of a Social Security number or a "green card," the nickname for the INS-issued ID, complete with photo, which says the holder lives here legally.

The business transaction is done at the forger's place, where he keeps his scanner and other equipment, or at the immigrant's home, after dark, when the forger shows up with a camera.

A package deal -- one Social Security card, one green card -- can cost between $120 and $150. Sometimes the cards are dead ringers for the real thing; sometimes they look fake, with misspellings ("varification" instead of "verification"), creative artwork of U.S. eagles, and photos that look tacked on.

Some immigrants find legal residents, often living in another state, who are willing to sell the use of their real numbers and names.

That can get expensive: $1,000 and up.

Effects of crackdown

What will happen as federal agencies get tougher? There are some clues.

When the Social Security Administration contacted Harris Teeter in November, the grocery chain gave those workers on the list three weeks, until mid-December, to come up with legal numbers.

Half of them did. And the other half?

"A number of them left on their own accord," said Harris Teeter spokeswoman Jessica Graham.

Nolo Martinez, director of Hispanic/Latino affairs for N.C. Gov. Mike Easley, says he expects the federal crackdown to merely create what he calls a revolving door for illegal workers.

"If employees can't produce the right numbers," he says, "they'll leave that job and go get another one."

Probably using the same fake Social Security number, he says.