Thread: Administration readying crackdown on employers

Aug. 2, 2007, 12:24AM
Administration readying crackdown on employers


By SUZANNE GAMBOA and ANABELLE GARAY Associated Press Writers
© 2007 The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Employers across the country are preparing to fire workers with questionable Social Security numbers to avoid getting snagged in a Bush administration crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The Department of Homeland Security is expected to make public soon new rules for employers notified when their worker's name or Social Security number was flagged by the Social Security Administration.

The rule, as initially drafted, requires employers to fire people who can't be verified as a legal worker and can't resolve within 60 days why the name or Social Security number on their W-2 doesn't match the government's database.

Employers who don't comply could face fines of $250 to $10,000 per illegal worker and incident.

"There's a lot of fear and anxiety about what this rule is going to mean, particularly in the agricultural sector," said Craig Regelbrugge, spokesman for the American Nursery and Landscape Association and co-chairman of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform.

The Social Security Administration has sent "no match" letters to workers and their employers notifying them of the information discrepancies for years. Its goal has been to make sure money withheld from a person's paycheck is credited to the correct worker.

The letters are not shared with other government agencies because of privacy laws.

Although employers are prohibited by law from hiring illegal workers, their responsibilities with the letters have generally ended with notifying the workers of the discrepancies and leaving it to them to deal with it.

Many employers have been warned by attorneys to be careful not to fire a worker because they got a letter, because the no match could be the result of a typo in a name or number, a computer error, a name change that wasn't reported after marriage or other reasons.

But those who don't comply with the new rule could be deemed as knowingly hiring an illegal worker.

The Homeland Security Department says the new rule provides guidance to employers on how to deal with workers who receive no match letters and give those who comply "safe harbor" if illegal workers are found at their business in an investigation or raid, said Russ Knocke, Homeland Security department spokesman.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of the Homeland Security Department, "is going to be tough and aggressive in the enforcement of the law," Knocke said. "You are going to see more work site cases. And no more excuses."

The administration trotted out the stepped-up enforcement plan last summer, but put it on hold while the Senate debated an immigration reform bill.

That bill would have granted a chance at legal status for the estimated 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants in the country and created a temporary worker program. It also would have required employers to verify the status of all their workers.

After the bill collapsed in Congress, employers started bracing for the tougher rule.

"Congress didn't act. They didn't do what they needed to do on comprehensive immigration reform. Now there's going to be some pain to pay, and Congress is not going to feel the pain right away, it's the communities (of employees) and that's a real shame," said Laura Reiff, co-chairwoman of the Essential Workers Immigration Coalition, a national group of business and trade associations.

For Mark Chamblee, the stricter rule could mean losing some of his 28 workers at his East Texas nursery in Tyler.

Chamblee suspects a few of his workers could have trouble with their Social Security numbers and said he will fire them if the problems aren't resolved.

"Of course, it would add to the workload for the other workers," he said. "It would reduce our production and our output. Not all of our demand would be met on our products. Operating costs would go up."

Ray Atkinson, a spokesman for Pilgrim's Pride Corp., confirmed the country's largest chicken processing company recently let go employees at two Texas plants, as first reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The company's policy "for some time now" has been to terminate employees who can't clear up discrepancies, Atkinson said.

"We're all very cautious and we're all very nervous," Chamblee said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5020762.html

I beg to differ with Laura Reiff....Congress did EXACTLY what needed to be done with "comprehensive immigration reform".

I guess Laura didn't hear the flush after Congress voted.

I am really relieved and happy to read this. This is probably the most important step to bring some semblance of law and order being restored to our country. I know that we have a long way to go, but this seems like one of the most important steps that must take place.

For the past several weeks, I had been thinking that they weren't even going to address this. That's the way it seemed.

Okay, good, improvement.

This could be the next tactic of the Bush administration in getting an Amnesty Bill passed.

If they get a panic going in business and then get a panic going in the public, through the use of the media, they could appear to sway opinion in their favor.

I already see a sort of panic on the rise anyway. The economy appears to be correcting itself to all of the scams and lawlessness.

If they do , do this I would expect a huge correction to follow their actions.

I have seen this sort of article over and over recently.

International
Bush admn. readying immigration crackdown on employers

Washington, Aug. 2 (AP): Employers across the US are preparing to fire workers with questionable Social Security government identification numbers to avoid getting snagged in a Bush administration crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The Department of Homeland Security is expected to make public soon new rules for employers notified when their worker's name or Social Security number was flagged by the Social Security Administration.

The rule as initially drafted, requires employers to fire people who cannot be verified as a legal worker and cannot resolve within 60 days why the name or Social Security number on their W-2 doesn't match the government's database.


http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0708021310.htm

StokeyBob, I think we'll have to wait and see if this is a "tactic" or what.

But it is something we need to be seeing and hearing. Let's face it, it's better than not hearing this and there will be some self deporting by illegals themselves when they read this.

I think we need to be cautiously optimistic and of course keep a close watch.

I sent a positive email to President Bush regarding this. I believe in positive reinforcement.

But....we'll have to wait and see.

(I do think they want like to get a guest worker program underway at some point, that's something that I'm pretty sure of.)

When we see on TV bus loads of employees rounded up from raids executed on large companies like WalMar and Home Depot, McDonalds and so forth, then I MIGHT beleive that the government is serious and not just trying to mislead us. Otherwise, these little occassional raids done on small companies that net under 50 are not going to prove to me that they are serious. Right now, we're getting lip service. Any additional raids are positive, but they must be genuine, not fabricated.

StokeyBob wrote
This could be the next tactic of the Bush administration in getting an Amnesty Bill passed.

If they get a panic going in business and then get a panic going in the public, through the use of the media, they could appear to sway opinion in their favor.

I already see a sort of panic on the rise anyway. The economy appears to be correcting itself to all of the scams and lawlessness.

If they do , do this I would expect a huge correction to follow their actions.

I have seen this sort of article over and over recently.

Sadly, I agree with your assessment. It has been the MO of the Bush Administration to create chaos and fear, and then come charging in like Mighty Mouse to save the day. And of course it can only be saved by using their pre-conceived and self-serving formula.

this invasion took years to occur it is going take years to remedy. but even baby steps toward enforcing our laws is good.

this invasion took years to occur it is going take years to remedy. but even baby steps toward enforcing our laws is good.

That is if they actually go after employers and enforce the laws. Like everyone else here I will believe it when I see it. They are an ignorant self serving bunch of losers and cannot be trusted.

The employers may suffer but I doubt that the commuities will Out with the cheap labor in with fair wages and new jobs! Lets hope they do just as they say, I don't believe there is alot of bleeding hearts around here, Maybe at La Raza and friends but the real American citizens will embrace it with open arms!!!


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