Illegal Immigration: Cracking Down

All Federal contractors are required to process their employees through the government E-Verify program. It is an federally maintained electronic database system containing Social Security and other records. Now, cities across the US are getting in on the act.

Dallas' city areas have begun to adopt new requirements for city contractors in an attempt to tackle illegal immigration. "I want people we do business with to show they're doing their due diligence," said Lewisville city council member, John Gorena.

Though three states - Arizona, Mississippi, and South Carolina currently require all employers to make use of the system, Texas currently has no such requirement. The proposal was met with some criticism and opponents concerned about getting too involved in developing immigration policies.

Read more...

Resume Lies Lead to Serious Injury in Dallas

May 2nd was a tragic day in Dallas, TX. The practice facility used by the Dallas Cowboys collapsed seriously injuring two players. One was left with a broken neck and the other with permanent paralysis.

The director of engineering on the project, Jeffery Lawerence Galland runs his own consulting firm but works with the firm, JCI who oversaw the construction of the facility in 2003 and the reinforcement that led to the collapse.

Galland falsified his educational creditionals on his resume. In a written summary, Galland states that he received a bachelors degree from Eastern Washington University. A education verification confirmed that he did attend the university, but did not receive the stated degree.

Galland also served federal prison time for drug trafficking.

Read more...

Dallas School District Issues Fake Social Security Numbers

The Dallas Independent School district has been providing fake social security number to foreign citizens in an attempt to get them on the payroll quickly. Some of the numbers used were already assigned to citizens living elsewhere. In some cases, the certification office used the numbers to run criminal background checks on the new hires.

In an internal report issued in September, the district’s investigative office said that the Texas Education Agency learned of the bogus practice in 2004 and informed DISD that the practice “was illegal.” How long DISD has been issuing the fake numbers is unclear, and it is unknown how many have been issued. The report indicates, however, that the practice went on for many years and was discontinued only last summer.

The fake numbers were issued as a stopgap to expedite the hiring process when hiring positions particularly for bilingual education. The individuals receiving the bogus SSN’s were supposed to tell the officials when they receive their real numbers so they fake ones could be replaced. The investigation found no indication that the fake numbers were provided to the Teacher Retirement System, the IRS, or the SSA.

In July, the district confirmed that 26 of the false numbers were in use after accessing the Social Security Administration database. Liberty accesses a similar system through our partner, Form I9, which verifies the eligibility of a name and social security number electronically. It is unknown at this time whether anybody holding those numbers has been negatively affected.

Though the school district was told to stop issuing the numbers in 2004, the Texas Education Agency’s director, Doug Phillips said his office believed the practice had been stopped at that time. He said Thursday that he was unaware of a law that forbid issuing fake Social Security numbers, “We knew it looked bad and smelled bad. That was the first time we ever heard of that one.”

It is unknown at this time what, if any, action DISD will face for these charges.

Read more...