News

Judiciary Committee approves Grassley amendments to allow “parents to limit the use of their children’s Social Security numbers to prevent identity theft” and provides further fraud protection by limiting who can attest to the identity of a minor child in the E-Verify system (Amendment 38; Amendment 36)

CONCERN WITH ORIGINAL BILL: While the immigration bill has been described as having “the toughest immigration enforcement provisions ever seriously considered in Congress,” senators noted that while adults were empowered to protect their Social Security numbers, children were left out of this provision. The use of a child’s Social Security number is a common way for illegal immigrants to provide a number for E-Verify and not have someone notice the number has been put to use.

HOW THE AMENDMENTS STRENGTHEN THE BILL: To improve the E-Verify system, Grassley 38 empowers parents to protect their children from becoming victims of fraud within the E-Verify system. Every parent will be able to “lock” their children’s Social Security numbers within the E-Verify system the same way they would for themselves. Grassley 36 provides further fraud protections by only allowing a minor’s parents to attest to their identity. The original bill allowed anyone over the age of 21, regardless of whether or not the person knew the child, to attest to the identity of a minor child for the purposes of obtaining employment in the U.S.