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Date Posted: 20:45:03 04/28/08 Mon
Author: JMR
Subject: Cracks in Crackdown on Illegal Workers

Cracks in Crackdown on Illegal Workers

April 28, 2008
Cindy Gonzalez--Omaha World-Herald
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It's a scenario that frustrates those who enforce immigration laws.

A company receives federal notice that the Social Security number of an employee doesn't correspond with other records. That can be a sign that a worker is not in the United States legally.

Some bosses ignore the letters, which are sent by the Social Security Administration, and business goes on.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is trying to enforce compliance, despite a federal court injunction last year and resistance from business and civil rights leaders.

Friday was the final day for public comment on a proposed Homeland Security rule that could force employers to fire workers who have questionable Social Security numbers. Companies that failed to follow specific instructions and deadlines pertaining to so-called no-match letters would face stiff penalties.

The proposed no-match rule is essentially the same as the rule blocked by the injunction, though Homeland Security added more analysis as a way to address some concerns of the U.S. District Court in Northern California, said department spokeswoman Amy Kudwa.

Homeland Security hopes the court now will lift its injunction, Kudwa said. As a backup, the government also is appealing the federal injunction, she said.

Immigration officials, meanwhile, argue that the proposed no-match rule not only would be a tool for cracking down on illegal hiring practices but also would provide "safe harbor" against prosecution for firms that are in compliance.

"For those employers that would rather turn a blind eye, we're going to enforce the law," Kudwa said.

Critics insist that the no-match regulations would result in the mass firings of legal residents and U.S. citizens and impose devastating costs on American businesses and the economy.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week said a consultant it hired estimated that the plan to crack down on illegal workers could cost employers more than $1 billion a year and much more in lost wages to legal workers.

The consultant projected that 2 percent of legal workers would lose their jobs because they wouldn't be able to resolve the Social Security mismatch in the specified 90-day time frame.

Compounding the problem for legal workers is a Social Security database that critics say is riddled with errors. Many discrepancies in worker tax records are the result of typos, computer errors or name changes brought about by marriage.

The National Immigration Law Center reported that of 17.8 million errors in the Social Security database that could generate no-match letters, more than 70 percent pertain to native-born citizens.

The government began sending no-match letters years ago in an effort to correct records so workers could receive benefits they earned, said Michele Waslin of the Immigration Policy Center. She said the new rule would end up sending more workers into the underground cash economy, where they would no longer contribute taxes.

Lawyers have already seen an overreaction by employers who fired workers before allowing them to rectify the situation, said Omaha attorney Amy Peck, whose clients are involved in three such cases. She said the time period allowed in the proposed rule is too short.

"Additionally, it casts a cloud of suspicion on certain minority groups," Peck said. "This will be the next wave of litigation: wrongful termination."

One case against a Council Bluffs company provides a glimpse into what sometimes happens with no-match letters.

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