A group of Republican senators are calling on the country’s top three food delivery platforms to address allegations that emerged in a recent news report that suggests that illegal immigrants are filling in as delivery drivers.
In a letter to Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub, the lawmakers said they have concerns that food delivery services in major cities like New York are “being hijacked by illegal immigrants” who are not eligible to work.
Under current immigration law, one can only apply for a work permit 180 days after filing an application for asylum. The alleged unauthorized account sharing, however, allows them to bypass the 180-day waiting period and unlawfully work as substitute riders.
“When they arrive in these cities, reports indicate that many rely on murky networks to earn money, including by paying active food delivery service account holders to use their accounts and deliver meals to Americans’ doorsteps,” the senator trio wrote.
Noting that the illegal substitute workers do not go through any standard vetting process yet have access to their customers’ addresses and personal information, the senators warned that their presence poses a “real danger.”
“The danger to Americans—and specifically consumers using your services—is real,” they wrote. “These illegal immigrants are delivering food directly to consumers’ doors without ever having undergone a background check and often without even using their real names.”
“Deliveries routinely occur late into the night, compounding the dangerous situation, and—if the unimaginable happened—there would be little to no way to track the immigrant or bring them to justice,” the letter continued. “When American consumers have no way of knowing who is showing up at their doors, and there is no accountability process in place, it creates safety risks, especially for women and the elderly.”
The senators also expressed concerns about the potential exploitation of illegal immigrants, highlighting the risk of account holders withholding their earnings by leveraging access to those accounts.
“There is nothing compassionate about allowing exploitative illegal work,” they wrote.
As part of the inquiry, the senators are asking for information on how each of those companies makes sure that the person completing the deliveries actually matches the account profile. They also ask for specifics about the consequences for drivers who sell access to their accounts, the number of drivers who have been suspended for selling access to their accounts, and whether the company had received consumer complaints over this issue.
In response to the letter, all three companies stated that they have adequate measures in place to verify delivery drivers’ identities and combat unauthorized account sharing.
“All couriers who deliver with Uber are required to hold a valid right to work in the US, pass a criminal background check, and be over the age of 18,” a spokesperson for Uber said. “If a courier is found to be sharing their account or using a fraudulent account, we remove their access to our platform, no exceptions.”
A DoorDash spokesperson similarly stressed that the platform does not tolerate those who “can’t or won’t verify their identity.”
“To help ensure that Dashers are who they say they are and prevent access by individuals looking to abuse our platform, we’ve built a robust, multi-layered identity verification and safety screening process for anyone who wants to deliver through our platform.”
Grubhub said they have the same verification protocols, which require drivers to submit a valid name and email address, as well as uploading an eligible ID, a selfie that matches the uploaded ID, and images of the front and back of their driver’s licenses.
“Account sharing is completely unacceptable on Grubhub and will result in immediate termination,” a Grubhub spokesperson said. “If we find anyone misrepresenting their identity or granting unauthorized access to an account, they'll be removed from the platform.”
