The Threat Of Mandatory E-Verify

Scott Hochberg, writing at the Huffington Post:

[B]elieve it or not, one of the biggest threats to Social Security this summer could come from an entirely different direction [than the AARP], from an initiative whose main target is not even related to social program spending. I'm talking about E-Verify, a proposed system for curbing the legal employment of every single undocumented worker in America. While seemingly immigration-related, a mandatory E-Verify program could cripple the Social Security Administration (SSA) by concurrently draining already-limited funding while imposing heavy burdens on one of the most efficient government programs in existence. Oh yes, and it would threaten the timely distribution of all new Social Security benefits....

Forcing SSA to handle the administrative nightmare of E-Verify is worse than the usual conservative position of "starving the beast" -- it is more like starving the beast and making it run a marathon while carrying a 50 lb. backpack. That's because in addition to drastically increasing the responsibilities SSA would be faced with, the agency is already dealing with massive budget cuts that limit its administrative capacity.