Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 8/9/19


The National Chicken Council is asking President Donald Trump to help provide solutions to the problem of a lack of reliable tools that companies can use to verify the legal citizenship of workers at chicken plants.

The request follows the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bureau’s raids of Peco Foods and Koch Foods plants in Mississippi that led to the arrests of some 680 employees. 

In a letter to Trump sent Thursday, NCC President Mike Brown said the U.S. chicken industry uses all available tools to verify the identity and legal immigration status of all prospective employees.

“Unfortunately, the government does not provide employers with a reliable verification method to prevent identity fraud and document falsification and confirm with confidence that new hires are legally authorized to work in the United States,” Brown wrote.

NCC notes that current federal immigration policy gives prospective employees too much flexibility in the options they have to submit documents, choosing those that facilitate easy falsification and do not require biometric identification, for example. Current law also prohibits employers from using certain tools, such as E-Verify Self Check, to address the loopholes.

In the event that applicants cannot complete Self Check due to inadequate information in public databases, eligible employees should have a process by which they can quickly appeal the issue with the government. This would ensure only applicants legally permitted to work in the United States even apply, NCC said.

Meanwhile, the Social Security Administration needs to verify that social security numbers are not being used in duplicate locations or are not matched to deceased individuals.

NCC further suggests that employers who voluntarily utilize the E-Verify Self Check and follow the automatic referral process be insulated from liability unless the government can show beyond a reasonable doubt that the employer knowingly failed to use these tools in good faith. 

“This trade-off is only fair,” Brown wrote in the letter. “An employer that does everything possible to avoid hiring unauthorized employees should not be exposed to further liability. It is the responsibility of employers to help ensure that the law is followed but it is the obligation of the government — not U.S. employers — to provide a secure worker verification system.” 

NCC said it is looking to work with Trump “immediately” on the issue. 

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