Posted on Thu, Aug. 09, 2007
Impact of new immigrant rules unclear
http://www.charlotte.com/business/story/229571.html
STELLA M. HOPKINS AND LIZ CHANDLER

Employers may soon face hefty new fines for employing illegal immigrants, but federal authorities still won't have access to information that could red-flag companies most likely to have illegal workers.
That makes it unclear how much bite the new Department of Homeland Security rules, a year in the making, will have. The rules -- following failed congressional attempts at immigration reform -- call for fines of $10,000 against employers if they keep workers who are using bogus Social Security numbers. Employers have criticized the change, saying they will have more trouble getting and keeping much needed help.

Any labor squeeze could be especially difficult in the Charlotte area where rapid growth craves a steady flow of workers in construction, landscaping, hospitality and other services. Typically, those industries as well as some such as agriculture, are large employers of immigrants, some here illegally.

"It would have a big impact on a lot of people like us that require these immigrants to do labor that Americans won't," said Rusty Cox, who has about a dozen immigrant workers helping tend the 17,000 hogs he raises on a Union County farm. He said that when he hires workers, he asks for proper documentation, as required by law.

One of his workers, making $13 to $15 an hour, artificially inseminates 70 hogs each day.

"You can imagine what kind of trouble we have getting Americans to do this," Cox said.

The new rules focus on what are called "no-match" letters from the Social Security Administration. The agency sends thousands of the letters every year, notifying employers that they're submitting wage reports with Social Security numbers and employee names that don't match agency records. The Internal Revenue Service sends similar notices.

A mismatch can be a simple mistake, such as a misspelled name or transposed numbers. But illegal immigrants often buy fake Social Security cards or use numbers that belong to other people to get jobs -- the main attraction for coming to the country. So the no-match notices are strong evidence that a company might be employing illegal immigrants.

In the past, companies have often ignored the notices.

Under the new rules, that likely will be harder to do.

"They're going to be held accountable for what they have to do when they receive this no-match letter," said Veronica Valdes, a Homeland Security spokeswoman.

The agency hasn't released the rules and wouldn't provide many details on Wednesday. However, companies will be required to resolve Social Security number conflicts within set periods of time, perhaps 90 days. If they don't, they could be fined $10,000 -- but only if immigration officials ask about the letters.

That often happens during a work site investigation, but only a tiny fraction of the nation's 8 million or so business sites get visits from immigration officials. Homeland Security said the new rules would come with stepped up work site enforcement but gave no specifics.

"When we go into your business with a search warrant, if you have bunch of unresolved no-match letters, that's an indication that you have not been taking your responsibility seriously," said Pat Reilly, a spokeswoman for Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "When the government takes the time and money to let you know something is wrong, and you don't do anything about it, it's not going to go away."

There's an easy way for immigration officials to select businesses to target.

Social Security and IRS know the names, addresses and employers for workers whose numbers don't match records, but they won't share the information.

Homeland Security has pressed Congress to change laws and give it access to the records. That hasn't happened, and the new rules don't make the change.

IRS has said that without strict privacy regulations, workers and employers might stop reporting income and paying taxes. Employers also might choose to pay workers off the books, which invites exploitation.

People on both sides of the immigration debate questioned the rules' impact.

"We'd love to believe it but we don't," William Gheen, president of Raleigh-based Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, said of the new rules. "This administration has no enforcement credibility. ... Their big business friends want the illegals to stay."

Charlotte's Latin American Coalition is trying to sort out what might change.

"We don't know if it's going to have any impact at all," said Jessica George, the group's associate director. "The government tends to talk big."

North Carolina has one of the nation's fastest-growing immigrant populations and is home to an estimated 390,000 illegal immigrants. South Carolina has an estimated 55,000.

"This community has no idea how much they rely on undocumented workers to build the city, to prepare food they eat at restaurants, and to clean the hotel rooms where they sleep when they visit," George said. "Charlotte's economy depends on undocumented workers, and we're thriving because of it."

At a Union County subdivision under construction Wednesday, four of the five men doing heating and air conditioning work on a home did not have Social Security numbers, said Alberto Ramirez, the one who did. He said he had been in the country 20 years and is a permanent resident.

Ramirez said a crackdown on illegal workers would cause problems for companies, workers and society in general.

"If they don't have work, there will be other things," he said, such as drug dealing and robberies, to bring in cash. But he didn't think immigrants would go home.

"In our countries it is very difficult," he said.

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory hailed the new rules, saying employers will be forced to more aggressively screen their workers

"It's pretty obvious that a lot of false Social Security Numbers were being accepted, and that employers were turning a blind eye to it," he said.

He said the nation needs more legal immigration to fill jobs in industries short on workers. He's also unsure how the Carolinas would be affected by a reduced supply of immigrant labor.

"We're going to find out what the real employment situation is if the illegals no longer have easy access to these jobs," he said. "We have a lot of other people in our community who are not working, who we need to put to work."