The Janitors' Closet

You don't want to see your old truck on the news

Caught an interesting article about a plumber who noticed his logo on the side of a poor-man's anti-aircraft truck in news coverage coming out of Syria.  Seems he'd traded in his pick-up on a new truck, assuming that the auto dealer would take the logo off the side before selling it.  Besides being mistaken on that count, he'd little idea that the international used pick-up truck market extended to the Islamic State's military in Syria.

I learned my lesson about removing logos several years ago.  I had an old production van to sell; I find I get better prices advertising a vehicle on the street corner than I do at the dealer.  Same day I put the van at the front end of my driveway with a "for sale" sign on it, I sold it - full asking price, cash money.  Didn't think to take the decals off.

Couple of weeks later, I got a call from Immigration.  My van had just helped smuggle a fair number of informal immigrants into Arizona (panel vans, it seems, are superior for smuggling; pickups, on the other hand, are easier to convert to artillery platforms).  My logo (big and colorful - it always pays to advertise) had my phone number attached.  The nice fellow from Immigration was curious about my connection with the smuggling ring.

After a good deal of 'splaining (as Ricky would say to Lucy), I was off the hook.

I did, in a spirit of cooperation with the federal agency, suggest that if he could return the van to me, I'd be happy to put the same sign in the window, and park it again in my drive.  The idea was that I could call Immigration the moment it was sold, fax them a fresh photo of van and logo, and give them an easier time identifying the next cargo.  And then they could return the van to me.

Immigration could have a series of easy catches, and I'd have a new profit center.

Immigration has no sense of humor.

Spanish language TV is losing viewers

Caught an interesting article, in the October 28 Wall Street Journal, on Univision, the Spanish language television network.  It enjoys some 58% of prime time audience, something the "major" networks can only dream of.  But - steadily, over the last several years, it's losing its under 35 following.  Seems the kids are learning English.

Much of the often acrimonious debate on the immigration issue involves the rate of assimilation (or the claimed lack there-of) of the newcomers.  One might well argue that the rate of learning the native tongue is the best indication, of assimilation,  one way or the other.  And TV viewership provides quite a large sample.

As I've noted before, working in janitorial service, particularly in the area of Phoenix, Arizona (we tend to be on a bit of an immigration corridor), introduces one to a large number of recent immigrants from south of the border.  My perception has long been that they are assimilating into American society about as fast as any other immigrant group has over the centuries; the children are often discouraged from speaking Spanish even at home, in an effort by the parents to make a better place for them in American society, and the economy.  It calls to mind the nice Greek girl I dated a bit after college; she was a little upset with her parents for refusing to teach her Greek, which would have better connected her to her ancestral culture, as well as given her the benefits of being bi-lingual.  And I can tell you, from (brief) experience, learning Greek as an adult is no picnic.

Further, as far as I can tell, the desire to work, and the entrepreneurial spirit, are stronger among Hispanic immigrants than among those who have been here for generations.  And I've yet to see any firm evidence of higher crime rates among recent immigrants, legal or illegal, than among the rest of us.

Teddy Roosevelt opined that, to be welcomed as an American, one should get a job, keep out of trouble with the law, and learn English.  That seems to me a pretty fair formulation.

6 months if you copy the I-9 documentation - turns out, not so...

In vetting a person for possible employment, you need to confirm identity and employment authorization.  A List A document (passport, permanent resident card, etc.) does both; a B document (driver's license, state or federal ID) establishes identity, while a C document (Social Security card, birth certificate) will establish employment authorization.

The employer fills out a form I-9, and examines for authenticity either the A or both the B and C documents.  He must retain a copy of the I-9, and is advised to retain a photocopy of the A or the B and C documents (I assume to better demonstrate that he did in fact see them).  One advantage we have in the process - checking for the occasional fake document - comes from our membership in Homeland Security's IMAGE program; the good folks there gave us quite a bit of training in document authentication: microprinting, holograms, and other stuff (can't give away ALL the secrets...).

The applicant can present any listed document he wishes; the employer cannot pick and choose.

Which led me to notice a bit of a down side that recently crossed my desk.  According to a quick read of an article sent me regarding 18 USC 701, you can get fined, or up to six months free housing at Club Fed, by photocopying a US military ID, one of those "B" documents accepted to establish identity.   BUT - if you read the law, carefully, there is a quite relevant exception.

Another example of a benefit of Homeland Security's IMAGE program.  I'd dropped a note to my local IMAGE contact, and within a couple of hours had a detailed reply; the guts are:

• This section is not specific to military IDs; it encompasses all federal agencies.  This is significant because it would mean it would be illegal to photocopy ANY federal government ID
  (permanent resident cards, passports, employment authorization documents,
  etc.)
• The highlighted section which states “except as authorized under regulations made pursuant to law” clearly provides an exception as long as the copy is made under direction of law, which
  it is in the case of information collected for the purpose of completing Form I-9.

Should have noticed that myself.  Useful folks over at Homeland Security.

Lots of stolen identity at my competitor's office

Our Maricopa County sheriff has just arrested 24 employees of ProServe, a competitor in the Phoenix janitorial industry, according to an AP/TV 15 news report. 

According to the article, "some of the suspects used the false IDs to buy homes, cars and to open credit card accounts, and 23 of the 24 people arrested are in the country illegally.  Sheriff Joe Arpaio says research by deputies confirmed that120 employees of ProServe used fake identification to gain employment."

Sound a bit more serious than just the occasional individual slipping by E-Verify with a faked Social Security card.

This comes on the day that the Feds have closed down E-Verify, due to the government shutdown.  Good thing we at CBN do not simply rely on E-Verify to confirm identity and work status; we also run an address search based on the SSN, so as to see where all around the country that particular SSN is holding down a job or establishing credit; and we require a current Arizona driver license of all applicants.  The license is quite difficult to forge, if you know what to look for (holograms, micro-printing and all), and we are able to check the photo on the license against the photo the state has on file.  This all fits right in with our participation in Homeland Security's IMAGE program - we confirm identity before hiring.  I don't think much gets past us, and we've never had an employee picked up.

Getting back to the government shutdown: it almost seems that, as happened at the outset of the sequester, the various agencies are looking for areas to shut down that will have the most impact on folks, as opposed to saving money or man-hours.  I notice that the National Zoo, for instance, has turned off the panda cam (quite popular since the cubs arrived).  How many federal employees does it take to leave a stationary camera on, and feeding video?  For that matter, one would think that the E-Verify process would be largely or entirely automatic, so no federal government employees involved.  At least, that's the way a real world company would handle it.  

Identity theft at my local taco shop

Caught an article the other day, in the Phoenix Business Journal, about an immigration raid at three America's Taco Shop locations (one just up the street from my office).  You'd think, if we really wanted firms to not hire the undocumented, and for folks to not have their identity stolen, that we'd try to make identity theft difficult.  Say, with Social Security cards containing photos, and biometrics, and magnetic swipes.  A potential employer could "swipe" the SS card, and use a cheap thumbprint reader on the applicant's thumb; send both data sets back to a computer in a basement in Washington, and get back - with the speed of electrons - a confirmation that the card is legit, and belongs to the thumb submitted, and that the fellow is allowed to work.  They could even send along a photo.

Much superior, to my way of thinking, to the SS card that can be had at Park & Swap for $25.00.  As they say, it's not rocket science.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has helped to organize the "Real Arizona Coalition" to push immigration reform, with substantial backing from the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce.  I sat in on Bill's presentation to the Chamber's Public Policy Committee, and voted for our (unanimous) endorsement of the program.  It's quite similar to that being suggested by eight members of the U S Senate (including Arizona's Jeff Flake and John McCain), and also to that suggested by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Clint Bolick (of our local Goldwater Institute) in their recently released book "Immigration Wars".  (Attended the local book launce, with both authors, on Monday - even got my copy autographed.)

All these initiatives are good programs; all are similar in advocating tamper and theft resistant work documents.

All of which takes me to what we do in our screening of anyone we allow in our client facilities.  We require a current Arizona driver license; since the 911 legislation, licenses hereabouts are tamper resistant, fakes are easy to spot, and the holder has had his ID vetted by the state.  We then send the number on the license to our background specialist, and she sends me back a black & white copy of the photo that ought be attached.  Once I've established exactly who it is that I'm interviewing, it makes more sense to run court records on the fellow - over and above any immigration issues.

We don't figure on having an identity theft raid here.  But I could use a taco.

Worker ID that you can't buy at park-and-swap: what a concept!

A "high tech" worker ID, with biometric attached - for everyone eligible to work in the US - is proposed as part of the immigration bill that eight senators, including Arizona's John McCain and Jeff Flake, are working up, according to a front page story in February 21's Wall Street Journal.  Somebody back there is reading my blog.

I'm not big on hiring illegals.  I'm even less enthusiastic about hiring the "undocumented", because if I cannot get reliable documentation confirming a person's identity, it does me little good to attempt a court records search for axe murder convictions and such.

Current Social Security cards are remarkably easy to forge.  If the forger had the sense to create the card with a legitimate name and number combination, when I send the info to E-Verify, the fellow will be approved.  Doesn't matter if he's 19, and the card was issued during the Eisenhower administration.  Doesn't matter how many full time jobs that number is holding down around the country, either.

Because we guarantee our janitorial clients thorough back-grounding of our people (who, after all, get copies of the clients keys), we jump through several hoops to confirm ID.  We scrutinize the Social Security card (training provided to us by Homeland Security's IMAGE program).  We require a current Arizona driver license, and compare the photo on the license to that that the state has on file.  We run a check on addresses connected to the Social Security number (to see how many places around the country the fellow is living, simultaneously, and to see if he seems to be the primary user of that number).  And some other stuff, all before running court records, nationally, and in Arizona down to justice  court level.

As you might gather, most folks do not bother to work so hard to confirm ID; for instance, we're only the second janitorial firm in the nation to partner with Homeland Security in the IMAGE program.

Imagine if we all had a system to make identity confirmation simple and fool proof - a laminated Social Security card with a photo, an electronic strip tied to a computer in some basement in DC, the card holder's thumbprint resident on that same computer, so that I could capture that print and send in it, and the electronic info on the card, and get immediate confirmation of identity and work eligibility.  My life would be easier, and perhaps a few others in the industry would find it convenient to be a bit more careful about who they hire.

Or perhaps not.

 

Actions have consequences

Just got back from Thanksgiving dinner at my little sister's, up the road in Flagstaff, with extended family and friends.

Included was Audry, a French gal I hadn't seen since my niece's wedding a couple of years ago.  First met Audry when she was a high school foreign exchange student living with my sister's family.  She liked Arizona, so she came back to college here, at the University of Arizona, studying something high-tech that is a bit beyond me; she then worked a bit, I gather still on her student visa, at a high level job for Microsoft in the San Fransiscoarea.  Eventually, either the visa expired or the Feds caught her, and she was thrown out of the country.  Moved to Ireland (then in the middle of its boom).  Corporate America being more loyal and valuing people more than does our federal government, Microsoft moved her job with her to Dublin.  Audry gets to America as a tourist as often as she can, and would love to move here, but there is still a long line in front of her.

So we've thrown away a decent, highly educated (by us), high performing gal - exactly the type we ought be recruiting if we want a decent, prosperous society.

On another note, met a distant in-law from Las Vegas.  She is originally from California, but is gradually moving her business to Nevada to escape California's punishing tax code - and this before California voters raised taxes on the "wealthy" in November's election.  Seems that California voters think that by raising tax rates, they'll increase tax revenue, rather than collecting less revenue from a smaller economy.  And our president is aiming to do the same thing on a national level.

It's not rocket science.

When the Feds come calling

"...according to the U. S. Department of Labor, building service contracting is classified as a "fissured industry", or one with varied organizational methods of employment, such as franchising, subcontracting, and independent consultants.  Given this, the likelihood of a visit from the DOL, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or another federal agency is more likely now than ever."  This from a perceptive article in the September/October issue of BSCAI's Services magazine.

Most janitorial work in small to medium sized accounts is done by firms that either franchise or subcontract it out, or by smaller ("ma & pa") operations.  Because franchise holders and independent contractors (and their employees) are not employees of the janitorial firm with whom the client contracted, that firm is under no obligation to fill out employee documentation.  More to the client's concern, the janitorial firm often feels no obligation to check the ID of the janitors, or to background them.  Or require the franchisee or subcontractor to check ID on or background their employees.  (Clearly, it is hard to do a background check without first establishing the identity of the fellow being checked.)  Similarly, the "ma & pa" operators often hire somewhat informally - bringing on the neighborhood kid, not checking his background or ID, and often paying him cash.  Informality reigns.  Security looses.

We do things a bit differently.  ID confirmation, SSN verification, driver's license photo checked against the state's database of such photos, statewide civil and criminal records down to justice court level, national criminal record check, driving record examined.  As one of (at present) two janitorial firms in the nation partnering with Homeland Security in ICE's IMAGE program, we agree to use E-verify, third party oversight of I-9 documentation, require any contractors to follow the law and fill out I-9s, and have completely open books for the ICE folks.  In return (in addition to pacing us on their website), we got extensive training in not screwing up the documents (nice) and, more importantly, spotting fake ID.

Now that courts are beginning to deem franchisees to be employees of the franchise seller, it will be interesting to see what immigration laws, and employment laws, a few of the other folks in the industry find themselves tripped up by.  And how it impacts their customers, who ought to have known better.

"...years of experience producing fake passports and other identity documents..."

I get mail:  "Our company has years of experience producing fake passports and other identity documents. We use high quality equipment and materials to produce counterfeit passports. All secret features of real passports are carefully duplicated for our falsified documents...."

Nice to know they use high quality equipment and materials; one should take pride in ones work and in the resultant product.  I suppose I'm on the distribution list because I occasionally write on the subject of personnel security and employee identification confirmation.

One of the reasons we partnered with Homeland Security in their IMAGE program was the training they gave us in detecting fake IDs.  Doing commercial janitorial work, which tends to attract the "informal" immigrant community, and in Arizona, which is something of a immigration corridor, being able to spot fake ID and send the carrier on his way, is vital to our security set-up.  We do quite extensive pre-employment background checking - court records down to Justice Court level, for instance - but have noticed that checking a person's background does little good without knowing the real identity of the person one is trying to background.  And issuing client keys to folks of unknown background is, to me, rather troubling.

Finally, I figure that if I stay legitimate in my compliance with such niceties as employment and immigration law, I'm less likely to someday need a "high quality fake passport".

 

Properly checking work authorization status

CBN's system and its partnership with Homeland Ssecurity through the IMAGE program is featured in a recent article on Cleanlink, also picked up by Building Service Contractors Association International's e-newsletter.

CBN and Porter Industries, up in Colorado, are the only janitorial firms in the nation enrolled in the IMAGE program, providing sophisticated training to firms' personnel departments in confirming ID and properly dealing with related documentation.  Good summary, in the article, on document preperation and retention.  Over and above the IMAGE program, as part of our in-house security program, we confirm applicant ID by comparing drivers license photos with the State's file of them (we require a current Arizona driver's license of all applicants), and run a Social Security number based address check, to see who-all might be using the applicant-submitted SSN.  Pretty tight system, overall.