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More N.J. Residents Asked to Show Social Security Card NewsMax.com Wires HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Whether it's dealing with banks, schools, government agencies, hospitals or other companies, New Jersey residents are increasingly being asked not only to provide their Social Security numbers, but to show their Social Security cards as well.
The requests for people to show cards, a demand that sometimes violates state and federal laws, has left New Jerseyans applying to replace mislaid cards at a higher rate than the rest of the country, according to Jane Zanca, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Social Security Administration's New York regional office.
Zanca cited the tougher security measures in the New York area as a possible explanation.
The number of replacement card applications in New Jersey was up 10.2 percent, to 312,289, in 2005, according to the Social Security Administration. The previous year, applications were up 12.5 percent. Story Continues Below
The requests for cards in New Jersey, as well as other states, have raised concerns among civil libertarians that Social Security cards are becoming national ID cards.
Marielena Hincapie, an immigration and labor attorney at the National Immigration Law Center in California, thinks crackdowns on illegal immigration may be playing a role in the card requests.
"I think it's indicative of the anti-immigrant sentiments around the country, as well as the use of the Social Security number for so many purposes beyond what it was intended for," Hincapie told The Sunday Record of Bergen County.
The numbers and cards were originally meant to merely allow the Social Security Administration to track a worker's earnings and pay retirement benefits. And under federal immigration law, employers are still not supposed to request the card as proof of work eligibility.
Amy Gottlieb, an immigration attorney, found herself questioning the situation when she was asked for the card while applying for a teaching position at Rutgers Law School.
"I remember thinking, 'This doesn't feel right,"' she said. "But I did it because it was the easiest thing for me to do."
Rutgers spokeswoman Sandra Lanman said the university only requires the card so employees can be paid, and that the employees are given an address to get a replacement if they don't have a card.
According to Hincapie, it should be the employee's decision of what to present to prove work eligibility, whether it's a passport, a work permit, documentation of temporary protective status or a Social Security card.
"It's a protection against discrimination," Hincapie said. "If the employer is asking for workers to present a certain card, they may not have that card and they may be turned away from work even if they are authorized to work."
© 2006 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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