Utah school districts fail to protect children from illegal-alien-driven identity theft

According to Utahns for Immigration Reform and Enforcement (UFIRE), the vast majority of Utah’s public school districts are not complying with legislation that protects Utah children from illegal alien driven identity theft.

Utah Senate Bill 81 (SB81) was passed by the Utah state legislature on March 4, 2008 and signed by the governor on March 13, 2008. 

During a committee hearing on the bill, Senators were told that SB81’s employment verification provisions would prevent illegal aliens from using the Social Security numbers of Utah children to get taxpayer funded jobs.  This was crucial since an estimated 50,000 Utah children have their Social Security numbers being used by illegal aliens to obtain employment.

Children who have their Social Security numbers used by adults suffer serious consequences. They can have their credit ruined, be saddled with arrest records, may have their medical records corrupted with life threatening consequences and can be denied means tested benefits because of earnings linked to their Social Security numbers.

Under SB81 which is now part of the Utah Code, public employers, including Utah’s school districts, are required to be enrolled in and to be using the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s free, E-Verify program or a similar status verification system.  In addition, public employers are prohibited from entering into agreements for the physical performance of services within the state of Utah with contractors who do not participate in a status verification system.

However, according to Robert Wren, chairman of UFIRE, over 19 months after the legislation passed and four months after its employment verification provisions entered into force on July 1, 2009, only 30 percent of Utah school districts had enrolled in the federal government’s E-Verify program.

On, December 1, Wren wrote to all Utah public school districts requesting that they provide information about their compliance with the employment verification provisions of SB81.

One school district in rural Utah responded that it had not been aware of the new employment verification requirements prior to receiving Wren’s e-mail. The district immediately enrolled in E-Verify and is now developing appropriate language for all of its contracts.

In response to an inquiry from a Utah state Senator, the state's Superintendent of Public Education acknowledged that the Utah State Office of Education had failed to fully inform all of the state’s school districts of SB81’s employment verification requirements prior to the effective date of the legislation.

The failure of school districts and their contractors to comply with SB81 could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funded contracts being awarded to companies that hire illegal aliens who are using the stolen identities of Utah children.

Furthermore, by failing to require their contractors to use E-Verify, school districts allow pedophiles using fraudulent Social Security numbers to obtain employment with contractors who have access to public school facilities.

Gaylan Stewart, a UFIRE board member said “The failure of Utah’s public school system to comply with a law that protects our children and grandchildren from illegal alien driven identity theft and from child predators is indefensible.”

UFIRE intends to continue monitoring Utah’s school districts and other public sector employers to ensure that both they and their contractors comply fully with SB81.