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  1. #1
    Senior Member zeezil's Avatar
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    Federal 'safe harbor' delayed

    Federal 'safe harbor' delayed
    Judge wants closer look at new rules targeting hiring of workers
    Staff and wire reports
    http://www.thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs ... 40312/1002

    Stiffer federal penalties for employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants, originally set to go into effect Sept. 14, have been delayed by a federal judge's ruling late last week.

    Monterey County labor group officials called the decision a positive step, one that allows more careful study of a plan they say will hurt thousands of area workers and their employers.

    Ruling on a lawsuit by the nation's largest federation of labor unions against the U.S. government, U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney on Friday granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the Social Security Administration from sending so-called "no-match" letters.

    The letters, which the agency had planned to start sending today, notify employers when officials can't find a match between a name and a Social Security number.

    The AFL-CIO lawsuit, filed last week, claims that new Department of Homeland Security rules outlined in accompanying letters threaten to violate workers' rights and unfairly burden employers.

    Chesney said the court needs "breathing room" before making any decision on the legality of new penalties aimed at cracking down on those who hire undocumented immigrants.

    She set the next hearing on the matter for Oct. 1.

    "This is great news, because it allows time for the government to investigate the situation before moving ahead with something that focuses too much on enforcement,"

    said Cesar Lara, executive director of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council.

    The Social Security Administration has sent out "no-match" letters for more than two decades warning employers of discrepancies in the information the government has on their workers. Employers often brushed aside the letters, and the small fines they sometimes incurred, as a cost of doing business.

    But this year, those letters will be accompanied by notices from the Department of Homeland Security outlining strict new requirements for employers to resolve those discrepancies within 90 days or face fines - even criminal prosecution - if they're deemed to have knowingly hired undocumented immigrants.

    The judge's ruling temporarily prohibits the government from enforcing the new rules, which were scheduled to take effect Sept. 14.

    Lara said the new enforcement would burden employers and affect tens of thousands of low-income workers in Monterey County. The regulations also don't address the issue of what to do with the roughly 12 million undocumented workers already living in the United States.

    Lara said area labor organizations, including the labor council and local unions, are closely following the issue to see how best to respond. Many labor representatives fear the new rules could be used as a union-busting technique by employers who follow the rules strictly, he said.

    Labor shortage feared
    Bob Perkins, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau, said local agricultural companies likely wouldn't start to notice any negative impacts on their labor force until the start of the next crop season in March, when incoming workers would have to provide proof of their legal status.

    "Once we encounter labor shortages, people will move around to get the best jobs available," Perkins said. "Even employers with clean employment rolls would be hurt by any labor shortage."

    U.S. government lawyers argued that the Social Security Administration needed to start sending the letters this week because postponing the staggered mailings would overwhelm staffers with a flood of responses if they finally do go out all at once.

    In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argue the Bush administration could inadvertently harm legal U.S. workers and law-abiding businesses in its quest to punish employers who are knowingly breaking the law.

    The suit says the new rules could lead to the unfair firing of legal workers. The vast majority of the discrepancies in the Social Security Administration's database - more than 70 percent of the 17.8 million discrepancies, according to a 2006 report by the agency's Office of the Inspector General - involve native-born U.S. citizens, the lawsuit notes.

    The plaintiffs also argue that many of the discrepancies are caused by clerical errors, or stem from name changes or different naming conventions - such as the use of multiple surnames - that are popular particularly among Asians and Latin Americans.

    The Department of Homeland Security has vowed to fight what it calls "an obvious attempt to impede its ability to enforce our immigration laws.''

    THE ASSOCIATED PRESS and Salinas Californian staff writer VICTOR CALDERON contributed to this report. Contact Victor Calderón at vcalderon@thecalifornian.com.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Comments by: american_first Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:32 am

    Here we go again…

    The ninth court of schlemiel’s goes and stops a process that would have exposed how bad identity theft is in America. They, the courts, let known criminals live, work and play in America… while their corruption eats away at the fabric of American values.

    I hope that the current state senate bill 180, which would give a union, such as the United Farm Workers, the option to collect a majority of farm workers' signatures on state-issued cards to become their representative in wage and benefit negotiations, that is currently on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger desk waiting for his signature, does not get signed into law!

    Then, we as Americans need to dismantle the Unions in California, one Union at a time. But the very first Union that needs to be neutralized is the, United Farm Workers! America needs to get rid of the ‘RED’ flag of corruption!

    Remember, it is the Union (AFL-CIO ) that stopped the American government from getting at the root of the hiring of illegal immigrants problem. The union is saying; let the employers have illegal labor!
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  2. #2
    ChicagoEd58's Avatar
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    BS

    What Lara really means is that Illegal Aliens should have the right to American jobs. Any problems concerning LEGAL workers can easily be corrected in ninety days.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Rockfish's Avatar
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    Remember, it is the Union (AFL-CIO ) that stopped the American government from getting at the root of the hiring of illegal immigrants problem. The union is saying; let the employers have illegal labor!
    Let's also try and remember that is the leaders of unions that are after the illegal recruits to support their retirement. The rank and file throughout the unions are against the acceptance of illegals. Unions are the only thing between us and slavery. They serve as a check and balance and should not be discarded from American work forces. The rank and file need to step up and demand more from their leaders with regard to the hiring of illegals.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

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