WELL, HERE'S ANOTHER NICE MESS YOU GOTTEN US INTO!WASHINGTON POSTImmigrant Crackdown Halted
Judge Delays DHS Plan to Check Social Security Numbers
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 1, 2007; A03
A federal judge yesterday barred the Bush administration from launching a crackdown Tuesday on U.S. employers who hire illegal immigrants while she considers a lawsuit by the AFL-CIO that charges that the plan will harm citizens and other legal workers.
The ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney in San Francisco, prohibits the Department of Homeland Security from starting to mail notices to 140,000 employers about suspect Social Security numbers. The "no- match" letters warn of penalties employers face by having discrepancies in their paperwork.
The order was a victory for the labor federation and the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed suit alleging that DHS is overstepping its authority to enforce immigration laws and is misusing a Social Security Administration database. They allege that the letters are an effort to pressure businesses to fire workers whose documents are flagged and could expose countless immigrant workers -- including law-abiding citizens and legal residents -- to job discrimination.
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There are errors in the Social Security records of an estimated 12.7 million native-born U.S. citizens, 250,000 foreign-born citizens and 4.8 million legal immigrants, potentially creating a paralyzing bureaucratic nightmare for workers and Social Security offices if their records are dragged into the sweep, union representatives said.
In recent years, the Social Security Administration has found that up to 10 percent of workers have suspect numbers, whether because of fraud, innocent typographical errors, confusion over name changes, multiple surnames or other reasons. Under the DHS proposal, starting Sept. 14 employers would have 90 days to resolve questions concerning such employees' identities or to fire them. If they do not comply, businesses face the possibility of fines and even criminal penalties for knowingly violating federal law that bars employing illegal workers.
If the government is going to require employers to fire workers because they are suspected illegal aliens, then the government must be prepared to take them into custody, at once, and proceed with deportation! Able bodied men wandering the streets unable to gain employment is a recipe for social disaster.
If my employer receives a "no-match letter" from DHS, will my showing proof of citizenship be sufficient to retain my job until the Social Security System gets it's act together?
How many DRs can produce, on demand, proof of U. S. Citizenship (certified copy of Birth Certificate, valid U.S. Passport, certified DD214 (Military Discharge) - Drivers L. is NOT good enough?
Once ICE does a sweep in a meatpacking town, there will not be enough hotel rooms to house the attorneys necessary to process the "no-match" workers.
der Brucer
