Joseph Long-Miranda

Marina Funes
Kyle Fong
Twila La Pointe
Gillespie/Baker
American Studies
17 October 2014

Undocumented Workers: Protecting American Citizens Identity

1.

Introduction
Obamas proposed immigration policy defines four specific area of needs: Border Security,
Undocumented Workers, Streamlining Immigration, and the Path the Citizenship. This paper will
focus on Undocumented Workers. Obama wants to make Social Security Cards (SSC) fraud-andwear-resistant, which means it would be a hardbound card like a drivers licence.1 One way to
improve Obamas plan is to have thumb/fingerprints on the SSC.

2.

Overview/Background
In the past, Americans view on immigrant workers wasnt the best. This is shown through the
Chinese Exclusion Act (CEA) that was passed in 1882. As assumed from the name, the CEA
excluded any Chinese from entering the United States because Americans believed that they
were stealing their jobs because they were harder workers who worked for lower pay.

1 Accountability for Businesses that Break the Law by Undermining American Workers and Exploiting
Undocumented Workers, The White House, accessed on October 2, 2014,
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/immigration_blueprint.pdf

Then there was the Immigration Act of 1924. This law had quotas (an average of 100 people per
ethnic group) to all nationalities to limit the immigrants to come in this country. They did this
because they favored Northern European workers over any other nationality and wanted them to
immigrate to the United States. This law included the Asiatic Barred Zone, which
discriminated all Asian countries to come to America because of past experience with the
Chinese immigrants. During that time, America was known to be a very racist country because of
this law.2

Since August 1, 2001, Obama has been trying to pass the DREAM Act. This act states that if an
illegal immigrant that has been here for five years and was brought here as a child by their
parents and meet certain criteria, they can one day earn their citizenship and be eligible to work
here as well. The criteria for earning citizenship is that the person must attend college or be
willing to serve in the military. President Obama has said time and time again that if Congress
puts the DREAM Act on his desk, he will sign it.3

President Obamas current plan, more specifically connected to undocumented workers, is to fix
the E-Verify system and crack down on identity theft. Employers have to have their applicants go
above and beyond to prove they are eligible to work, because many immigrant workers who are
illegal here in America are getting their hands on SSCs. This SSC is a counterfeit that looks like
the real card, but it is not. Illegal immigrants are on the street selling counterfeit SSC to other
illegal immigrants who are looking for work. According to NBC news, Sergio Gutierrez, a 35
year-old illegal immigrant, sells fake IDs in a park for $150. He said, We are not trying to do
2 The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act), Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public
Affairs, accessed on October 16, 2014, https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act
3 Rose Garden, Remarks by the President on Immigration

anything bad, immigrants just need to work. These illegal immigrants buy packages of illegal
documents up to $300 that consist of fake IDs, drivers licenses, SSC, and green cards4.

It is important to address that there is a way to improve Obamas plan now because this policy
can further deter people from making their own fake Social Security Number (SSN) and get
work. This policy is stopping illegal immigrants from counterfeiting their citizen status and
getting a job. The immigration system for these Undocumented Workers is not getting better. The
counterfeit documents allows the illegal immigrants to roam free in the U.S. illegally. More than
12 billion counterfeit documents were sold to illegal immigrants. Social Security Authorities
believe that the more illegal immigrants buy these fake SSN, the more money they get. However,
the illegal immigrants has access to everything without anyone knowing it is not theirs, using
someones elses name and money for their own benefits. Unauthorized immigrants will cause the
collapse of the system with getting these counterfeit documents. At this rate, some illegal
immigrants will get these documents to have jobs and live in the U.S unauthorized. Then the
immigrants who are American immigrants will be suspected of having a fake SSN, and possibly
be deported along their families and relatives. Thats why U.S. government has to address this
before its too late .5

3.

Proposed Policy and Analysis

This proposed plan is to have babies and adults fingerprints in their hardbound SSC to stop
identity theft. When infants get their SSN, the parents would take the child to Department of

4http://www.nbcnews.com/id/13105209/ns/us_news-security/t/fake-immigration-id-sellers-unfazedthreats/#.VDbjvWddWSp
5 How illegal immigrants are helping Social security. Edward SchumarcherMatos,http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090202673.html

Justice (DOJ) to have their fingerprints done, and 16 year-olds will need to redo their fingerprints
on their SSC. This process should be done by appointment and the cost for this Livescan is $15.
Once the fingerprint data is collected, it will be stored in the SSC. This idea is possible because
the fingerprint information would be stored on the card. When employers swipe the card it will
have the prints that are assigned to the SSN. The applicant can then get their prints scanned and
if everything matches up they are cleared for work.6 The fingerprint is needed because it is one of
the most reliable scientific ways of identifying genetic information.

One of the benefits of this plan is an increase in the number of people accurately identified as
legal, as a citizen, and a legal worker because of their fingerprint. This can prevent people such
as Sergio Gutierrez to make a fake SSC so easily. Another benefit is that this could identify a
child who has no SSN, because the child is here illegally. This child can be eligible for the
DREAM Act. Finally, the Live Scan can help the FBI and federal government to find out if these
immigrants are criminals because of the background check.

One of the drawbacks of this plan is that if the person has a scar on one of their fingers or thumb,
he or she still have to take the scan. However this could be a good thing because if the other nine
fingers matched from the last scan, officials will know it is you. Then they rescan your scared
finger/thumb, which will be very unique and cannot be counterfeit. Also, the fingerprints can be
distorted and unidentifiable if the persons fingertips and thumb tip have dirt on it, or if the
fingertip is twisted in some way leading to the misidentification of a person. The dirt on the
finger can make it appear as if it is a part of it, then the next time they scan the dirt will be gone
(assuming the person washes) and the fingerprint will not be the same as the one on the SSC
6 Harris, Elliot. Personal Interview. Sacramento New Technology High School, October 16, 2014

before. A computerized fingerprint can be used to misidentify a person by someone intentionally

doing it, if the system settings are wrong or the components are not working right, a person being
misidentified is catastrophic.7

4.

Conclusion
Obamas proposed plan is to make Americans flimsy paper SSC wear-resistant by making it into
a card like the drivers licences. This is a good step; however we need to be able to identify
whether a person is here legally, that their SSC is valid, and to make sure that it is the right
person by having their fingerprints on the SSC. This makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit.
This is the best option, because a persons fingerprint never changes and it is possible for an
infant to get fingerprinted. This could be the solution to completely stop all identity thieves
stealing peoples identity because Thomas Bush III, of the FBIs Criminal Justice Information
Systems department said computerized fingerprinting is 98% accurate.

7 list_7640391_disadvantages-fingerprinting.htmlinfo_8526814_pros-cons-computerizedfingerprinting.htm
8
http://www.uscis.gov/forms/fingerprints USCIS/ 10/17/14