GOP senators sound alarm on illegal migrants 'hijacking' food delivery services

WASHINGTON (TND) — Several GOP senators on Thursday warned major food delivery services are being “infiltrated” by illegal migrants.

In letters to leadership at Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., cited recent reports of migrants “hijacking” food delivery services by posing as vetted drivers to earn money. This, Sen. Blackburn claims, amounts to a dangerous “black market economy.”

“The danger to Americans—and specifically consumers using your services—is real,” the senators 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," they added.

The senators closed by demanding the companies take action to crack down on account sharing.

Grubhub told The National Desk (TND) Friday it does not tolerate such use of its app.

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“Account sharing is completely unacceptable on Grubhub and will result in immediate termination,” a spokesperson said. “If we find anyone misrepresenting their identity or granting unauthorized access to an account, they’ll be removed from the platform.”

Uber told TND its delivery drivers “are required to hold a valid right to work in the U.S., pass a criminal background check, and be over the age of 18.”

“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 Uber spokesperson added. “We appreciate the senators’ concerns and plan to respond to their letter with more information on our strict policies and processes in place to help prevent and address account sharing.”

DoorDash said in a statement to TND Saturday “there is no place on the DoorDash platform for those that 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,” a DoorDash spokesperson said.

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