Costco teams up with ICE to hire legal workers

Costco, one of the biggest retailers in the country has teamed up with the US immigrations and Customs Enforcement to make sure that all their staff are citizens or legal residents of the US and to avoid hiring illegal or undocumented immigrants.

The retailer which has 424 stores with a staff of over 110,000 nationwide will use E verify, an internet database relying on the files of the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security to ascertain whether the new employees hired are legally authorized to work in the US.

The hiring department will be trained by government officials on how to spot fake documents like the 1-9 forms. The company will also screen social security numbers using E verify.

Opponents of the controversial E verify say that the creation and maintenance of E verify is costing the American people a substantial amount of money.

E verify which was created in 1997 has seen a significant rise in usage with an estimated 250,000 employers voluntarily using it.

ICE is hoping that the Costco partnership will encourage other employers to start using E verify to screen their new employees in future.