Thread: Crackdown on illegal workers encounters snag

8/17/07
Crackdown on illegal workers encounters snag
Law prevents use of tool for pursuing employers.
By Lisa Friedman
Staff Writer

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 last week is toughened Homeland Security enforcement of "no match" letters - which the Social Security Administration sends to companies when employees have questionable identification numbers.

But Homeland Security officials acknowledged that a privacy provision in the Internal Revenue Service 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 number of people that do come forward and tell us an employer is not conforming with the law," said DHS 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.

Immigration hard-liners 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 long-standing data-sharing issue.

Bob Dane, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said that with Homeland Security unable 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 who 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 rolled out last week by the White House 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 letter from Homeland Security 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 that 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 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.

But without that change, DHS 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.

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.

Tom Nassif, president of the California Growers Association, pointed out that any "no-match" letters a company receives will come out at 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.

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.

lisa.friedman@langnews.com

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/nationw ... 14411.html

Oh, no - really. The government never had a way to follow up on this?

But - but - they have added some 'new and improved' ways to hire temporary workers.

So what they have done is put out this huge smokescreen about getting tough on employers. The news media has helped by printing all these planted stories about 'crops rotting in the fields' and 'chickens not being plucked'.

These are supposed to make us think, 'Right on - finally we made them do something.'

And we did, we made them give the employers the tools to make all these workers legal - changing nothing. The only thing that is changed will be the fact they are legal and we can't even call for deportation or enforcement of employer sanctions.

While we are being flim-flammed by 'border security, and build that fence', they were all conspiring to get this in place - before the smoke cleared.

All the city and state laws against illegals will be moot - we are not back at Square One - we are off the game board - if we don't start thinking right.

Predictably, this was just another Bush administration farce to fool people into thinking that, yes, this time, THIS TIME, he means business -- while creating a semi-crisis to prod his business cronies to gear up for another amnesty attempt.

We are NOT fooled. Nothing Bush or his administration hacks say about illegal immigration has any credibility. And the American people will NOT accept another amnesty, or whatever they try to call it.

As I just answered - this IS amnesty.

The illegals are going to be able to stay and work, continue to drain our country - and we won't even have the leverage of demanding deportation.

That is a pretty good definition of amnesty.

Immigration authorities conceding crackdown not as tough as expected
By Javier Erik Olvera and Lisa Friedman
MediaNews
San Jose Mercury News
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews ... ck_check=1
Article Launched:08/16/2007 06:37:21 PM PDT



A week after unveiling a major crackdown on businesses that hire illegal immigrants, the Bush administration is now conceding that its most heavily touted weapon in pursuing employers - an assault against Social Security fraud - will be nearly useless.
That's because when the Social Security Administration warns employers about bogus identification numbers, it remains barred from also alerting the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that's supposed to hand out penalties.

In addition, federal promises to hold companies responsible for hiring illegal immigrants could potentially be stymied by several other issues: Employers are still not required to check a new employee's Social Security number against a free federal database, there could be long gaps between when an employee is hired to when the warnings are issued each year, and there is no way to follow up on employees who have been fired. In many cases, illegal workers could still hop from job to job without being caught.

The only way the government can punish an employer - with fines or criminal charges - is if someone first tips them off about potential fraud and then, during the course of the investigation, authorities discover evidence that Social Security warnings have been ignored.

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

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the department's investigative branch, will aggressively work off such tips - using, among other tactics, raids - with an eye for those who are knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.

Although immigration authorities and some lawmakers say the enforcement may make a difference, those who have been up in arms over the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the country say they feel bamboozled.

Jeff Wilson, a Bay Area resident clamoring for tougher immigration enforcement, was skeptical when he heard last week about the boosted enforcement, which calls for higher fines for employers who don't fire employees caught using bogus Social Security numbers within 90 days.

"When I hear about anything the Bush administration is going to do, I don't believe it," said Wilson, who operates an anti-illegal-immigration Web site. "I think it was simply to look good. I believe in action - not words."

Advocates for immigrant rights also have taken issue with the crackdown, calling it a "scare tactic" to encourage people to return to their home countries or risk being found out by their employers.

"A lot of people may not think it's not worth staying here," said Salvador Bustamante, Northern California director of Strengthening Our Lives, which encourages civic participation among immigrants. "I think it's just a scare tactic."

Within the next few weeks, the Social Security Administration nationally will send out about 140,000 warnings - or so-called "no match" letters - to businesses with at least 10 employees whose numbers can't be verified. About 35,000 of those will go to employers in California.

The envelopes will include a separate letter from the Department Homeland Security informing companies that they may be in violation of immigration law and have 90 days to verify the employees' identities.

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 for each employee.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the agency would clamp down on employers who knowingly and willfully violate the law. Left untouched, however, was Section 6103 of the IRS code - a privacy provision the government has long interpreted to mean that the Social Security Administration is 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.

Still, leaders of California industries that rely heavily on illegal labor, like agriculture and restaurants, say they aren't taking any chances. Trade groups that represent the sectors said they have strongly recommended that employers follow the new rules, regardless of the government's ability to trace its own threats.

"This is another tool in their kit," said John Gay, top lobbyist for the National Restaurant Association. The group represents about 1.4 million estimated employees in California, though it claims not to know how many are illegal immigrants. "It's easier to establish a violation with these rules."

Tom Nassif, president of the California Grower's Association, said he believes the new rules will cripple California's $32 billion agricultural industry. About 70 percent of the state's estimated 450,000 farm workers during the peak harvest season are illegal immigrants, and Nassif believes most if not all will be fired by fearful employers.

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