Thread: Bush plan called useless: Illegal worker tactics stymied

Bush plan called useless
Illegal worker tactics stymied

By Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Article Launched:08/16/2007 11:51:10 PM PDT

WASHINGTON - Days after unveiling a major crackdown on businesses that hire illegal immigrants, the Bush administration has quietly acknowledged that its most heavily touted weapon in pursuing employers will be virtually useless.

At the heart of the new rules announced this past week is toughened Homeland Security Department enforcement of so-called "no match" letters - which the Social Security Administration sends to companies when employees have questionable identification numbers.
But Homeland Security Department officials acknowledged that a privacy provision in the IRS code prevents immigration officials from actually knowing which employers have received "no match" letters, which have complied with the regulations and which have not.

"While we don't get information directly from the Social Security Administration, we do see that we get a lot of tips. There are a number of people that do come forward and tell us an employer is not conforming with the law," said Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Veronica Nun Valdez.

In addition to working with informants, Valdez said immigration officials plan to step up investigations and raids, which will likely yield sanctions against violating companies.

But illegal-immigration hardliners said they feel bamboozled.

Many noted that working with tips and increasing raids is nothing new, and they said they had assumed that the government had resolved the longstanding data-sharing issue.

Bob Dane said that without the Homeland Security Department being able to get information directly from the Social Security Administration, the new rules are just "empty threats."

"Good God, if they're going to spend money on postage and send out threatening letters, which are long overdue, they need to have some practical enforcement at the end," he said.

Since 1994, the Social Security Administration has sent out the annual letters to companies when a large number of W-2 forms submitted for employees don't match the name or Social Security number the agency has on file.

While there can be several reasons for a "no match," activists note it is often a red flag that a worker is an illegal immigrant.

In the past, companies have largely ignored the letters and "thrown them in the circular file," as Dane describes it.

But the new immigration rules the White House rolled out last week promised serious changes.

Starting next month, Social Security officials will send out about 140,000 "no match" letters, with about 35,474 going to employers in California.

The envelopes will include a separate letter from Homeland Security Department officials informing companies that they may be in violation of immigration law and have 90 days to correct the Social Security inconsistencies.

If they do not, the letter warns, the agency may "determine that you have violated the law by knowingly continuing to employ an unauthorized person."

A first-offense fine was increased to $2,200 per employee.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff proclaimed the move means the agency will "clamp down on employers who knowingly and willfully violate the law." Editorial pages across the country proclaimed a new day for immigration enforcement.

Left untouched, however, was Section 6103 of the IRS Code - a privacy provision the government has long interpreted to mean that Social Security officials are forbidden from sharing tax information with other agencies.

Several members of Congress, including Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks, have tried to amend the provision. Most recently the failed Senate immigration bill, which also would have granted citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants, sought to fix it.

"It would make it a lot easier," Valdez said.

But without that change - like traffic cops with a stack of tickets but no map to the highway - the Homeland Security Department can only ask Social Security officials to insert its warnings into the "no match " letters.

"So the most meaningful part of this new initiative may not be so meaningful," said Steven Camarota, research director for the Center of Immigration Studies, which advocates restriction of all immigration.

"That's not surprising," he said. "The administration has never shown a great desire to enforce the law."

Still, leaders with California industries - such as agriculture and food services, which rely heavily on illegal labor - said they aren't taking any chances.

Trade groups that represent the sectors said they have strongly recommended employers follow the new rules, regardless of the government's ability to trace its own threats.

"I think this is viewed as more of a self-enforcing thing," said John Gay, top lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association, which represents about 1.4million employees in California.

"This is another tool in their kit. It's easier to establish a violation with these rules," Gay said.

Tom Nassif, president of the California Growers Association, pointed out that any "no-match" letters a company receives will come out during a civil trial if that business is ever cited for immigration violations.

And if the company has not complied, it could face the tough new financial and prison penalties.

"We could be targets for these investigations. It behooves us to do what we can to follow them," said.

Nassif said he still believes the new rules will cripple California's $37billion agricultural industry. About 70percent of the state's estimated 500,000 farmworkers are illegal immigrants, he said, and he believes most will be fired by fearful employers.

"With that dramatic a loss, I think people stop producing," he said.

Camarota said he suspects the Bush administration hopes that the business community, whose division over the recent Senate immigration compromise bill helped lead to its failure, will be galvanized into action by the threat of economic upheaval.

"They don't really want to upset the apple cart, they just want to tip it back and forth, and act like they're doing something," Camarota said of the administration's rules.

"What they really want to do is get the business community off the dime," he said.

Nassif agreed, but called it a risky gamble with the country's economy.

"I think they want the public to be so damaged and so fearful that they raise a clamor," he said.

But, Nassif added, "This is playing Russian Roulette. If that gambit doesn't work, then the blood will continue to flow." Nassif

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Did anyone actually think when the announcement was made that Bush intended for this grandiose new plan to work? Still, isn't that one of the issues many of us have been trying to force for-- how many years now? Didn't we want employers to stop employing them?

I still think part of the program must be to remove the job magnet. Period. That is the only way that the border crossers who are other than cartel members are going to stop coming.

While it would be ideal to seal the border up entirely but for the legal crossing points and start mass deportations (and make them take their welfare sucking kids along with them when they go) at the same time, I'm cheering and hoping that Bush will come out smelling like a rose on this one. If so, at least part of the problem will be resolved. Solving the illegal alien problem, after all, is the goal.

Do we really think he has suddenly had an ephiphany and realized his past wrong doings and he is changing his ways?

What these new plans actually do is give the employers the ability to make all these illegals into legal temporary workers. It gives them 90 days after receipt of the letter. That's time enough to get the paper work done.

Also, many companies are simply outsourcing these manual jobs to other contractors. When the letters reach the employer they can 'with tongue in cheek' say they no longer work there. They will still be on the job, just getting their checks signed by another company. How long before the government catches up with the new company and alerts them of non-matches - 5 years. Plenty of time to make them legal workers.

This is not good news for us -

Thanks for posting this, and William that you for sending me an email alert to this topic .

I’ve often said that report to deport is the best way to end the problem of criminal immigration in the U.S., with it be by phone call tips, word of mouth tips or Americans just plan getting involved and speaking directly to the people in questions, about there Immigration status.
Empty threats and giving America citizens false hope is the exact same reasons America has itself into the situations that it is today.
Even with some of the larger raids on immigration producing up to 30 and 40 criminal immigrants ay one time it is simply not enough to reach the 12 million people that are on the time line of deportation, that line is running out and running out fast for America.

I believe that if a company is sent a no match letter, and decides to filet in file 13 the fine should begin at that point.
We have been to soft on the laws of report discrepancies and that is the exactly why the problem will never go away. A company needs to have harsh and extreme guide lines that they must follow to get the paper work right. Turn you back on a warning and the guys in charge should be jailed. It’s just like letting a drunk driver off with a warning in my book, and we all know the potential disaster of that situation.

(90) days to reply to a crime is to long, they have to report the employees SS# before they even begin work, then the companies should be closed down if the don’t comply after 30 days . The IRS doesn’t play around with time lines if the find a in discrepancy and they in the letter sending book hold more water then and one else as far as this poster is concerned.

When you use words like ( might need to) ( may have to) and (could possible) companies are going to fire and re hire supplying the new numbers just to get back to starting gate all over again. The turn over rate is going to increase and the criminal employees are going to work some where else until the new (90) days comes up .Social Security inconsistencies, raises the flag and that’s all that should be necessary to have a full investigation.


A first-offense fine was increased to $2,200 per employee. Boy that will scare them in to writing a reply letter quickly.

I am angry and tired of always seeing the all Great Answers to this immigration problem then two more excuses on why the problems are not fixed.
Cripple California's $37 billion agricultural industry, and watch the rest of America’s criminal alien hiring companies fall off the edge of their seats sending criminal immigrants running there be a run for the boarder alright.

But mark my words here today, if we don’t start in the biggest places in the largest over populated states. The problem won’t stop. If the enforcement starts in states like California every one else will fall on line . If they don’t then they will be closed down for good.

Nassif called it a risky gamble with the country's economy. I say fire him too. We don’t need wishy washy

Not doing anything and waiting for the immigration laws to enforce it self, just because something looks like a road block is a higher risk.
A risk so Great there wont be An America economy left to worry about.

EXCUSES
MORE
EXCUSES

There are suspected (no, I'm 99% sure) illegals at my workplace, however 1) it's against the law to ask if you're an illegal when interviewing/hiring and 2) although they didn't provide SSNs (valid or fake) as documentation for getting hired, they did, however, provide ITINs (Individual Tax Identification Numbers) which have been forked out by the IRS / Fed Govt. since '97 in astronomical numbers and more frequently than not, used as I.D.s on par with SSN cards for illegals (for mortgage loans, opening businesses, getting jobs, buying that brand new SUV, etc.).

We source out our payroll and have never had one problem with this in over 5 years that I've been there. We've been audited. Not one problem. All of the Hispanics have them. What's more...they're legit. Our govt. gives them to them in lieu of SSNs because (sigh)... real SSNs are really hard to get.

I've written Homeland Security/Chertoff and my Congressman - but wonder if anyone's gonna be checking for these in this big ole CRACKDOWN?

Hmmm. I kinda doubt it.

That may be the thing - assign all of them the ITIN numbers rather than making them temporary workers.

There is a way they are going to get around this.

People, if there was any fear of being fined or loosing all their illegals, these people would be in a panic - a real panic. They would be trying to hire legal Americans at a fast clip. We would see illegals out of a job and headed south already.

It just isn't happening because the government has given them an 'out' -

The government is not going to do anything about this - they are going to do less than nothing. They are going to try to give these people some legal status so we can't even demand deportation.

Bush is a Globalist just like his daddy. Globalist is another word for elitist. Cheap labor and lack of benefits are the global diet of choice. Over population is a globalists dream scenario and the sacrifice of quality of life is a non issue. Remember that America! The elitists don't live where you do. Bush is putting the North American Union together under our noses and laughs when asked questions about it. Unfortunatly for him there is the Freedom of Information Act which makes a lier out of him. It has been discovered that all air traffic controls are being crafted for seamless use in Canada as well as Mexico. Our sensitive technology for air traffic will now be in 3rd world Mexican and socialist Canadian hands and operated by their respective employees. Trade disputes will be harmonized to another legal system (not ours) with it's own case law(not ours). Yet Bush maintains there is no threat to US soveringty. Remember Bush does not read much so he may be confused as to the meaning and takes Mr. Globaist Cheney's word that everything will be OK. Bush will never enforce the boarders...that is not the globalist way...anything he does will be disingenuous smoke and mirrors. The outrages and battles will continue untill this country elects a non globalist president and there is a genuine enema in the Congress. Out with the old in with the well intentioned new. The outlook does not look good from the current batch of Presidential candidates either. Grassroots is the only way to take action. This forum and others pose a real threat to the globalists and in significant numbers we can still push back a significant North American Union tide which is comming our way. Become educated. Read "The Late Great USA" by Jerome Corsi. Remember that illegal immigration is just a symptom of a much larger cancer that only US citizens can extract. We can fix this!!!!

welcome to ALIPAC "geminga" great post, so glad to have you join us, please stay around and fight the fight for our country with the ALIPAC TEAM. We can do this together, how true are the words " UNITED WE STAND DIVIDED WE FALL"

When congress get back we need to work on our congressmen to get some laws in place that make it easier to enforce the laws and we need old Sensenbrenners bill that made it a felony to be here illegally. We should have fought harder for that one!!\




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Originally Posted by Nouveauxpoor

Nassif said he still believes the new rules will cripple California's $37billion agricultural industry.

That is only 2.5% of California's overall economy. Plus 1/3rd of California's farm products are exported out of the US!