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Published Thursday, July 20, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006

The Illegal Immigrant Tango
It takes two to tango. Pearl Bailey popularized the saying in a song with that title. Bailey's song hit the pop charts in 1952, about 22 years before U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, R-Bartow, was born. But the concept shouldn't be lost on him.

When it comes to providing jobs for illegal immigrants: It takes two. (Also coincidently the title of a 1966 duet by the late Marvin Gaye with Kim Weston.)

Last week, The Ledger reported that Putnam had pitched White House officials about backing away from a proposed Homeland Security Department rule. It would make it easier to prosecute the employers of illegal immigrants. The state depends on foreign workers for its citrus harvest, which begins in a few months.

"I'm going to point out the importance of crafting a rule in a thoughtful and responsible way so employers will not be dragged into an unacceptable situation simply because they're not document experts," Putnam said. "I will ask for a delay of implementation until then."

Not many of us are document experts. But everyday workers are expected to police others: Clerks who sell beer, wine or alcohol to minors can be charged if they break the law. A gun-store clerk has to have identification from a prospective purchaser before a transaction can take place.

No problem there. Grove workers have to produce proof of identification and Social Security information before being hired.

Putnam's concern is over a "nomatch" letter employers can receive from the Social Security Administration. The letter is issued when the administration can't match the employee's Social Security number with its records.


UNWORKABLE RULES

A 1986 law requires the employer to try to resolve the mismatch, while another regulation from the Justice Department prevents the firing of an employee simply because of a mismatch.

Homeland security officials propose a rule saying if mismatches can't be resolved in 60 days, the employer must fire the worker or otherwise be faced with prosecution for hiring an illegal immigrant.

Given Homeland Security's track record with the accuracy of its "no-fly" list compiled by the Transportation Security Administration to keep suspected terrorists off airplanes, Putnam's concern is understandable.

In October 2004, The Washington Post reported that documents obtained under federal court order detailed "how government officials expressed little interest in tracking or resolving cases in which passenger names were confused with the growing number of names on the list."

At one point, airlines were calling DHS officials 30 times a day to say they had stopped passengers whose names, or a similar name, were on the list, but was clearly not a terrorist suspect. A DHS spokesman acknowledged that the false matches "underscore the need we have to get more information on passengers to adjudicate those that are not a risk."

In January, a retired U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel was told he couldn't fly because he was on the no-fly list.

And then there was Florida's infamous list of 47,000 people declared ineligible to vote in Florida in 2004 because they were convicted felons or were not otherwise qualified. The state tried to keep the list secret. But nine days after it became public -- and was found to be filled with errors -- state officials told local election supervisors to ignore it and use their own compilations.

While the accuracy of the Social Security Administration's nomatch list has Putnam worried, there is another aspect that troubles many Americans: Most illegal immigrants are now being hired by America's most respected companies.

An analysis of census data by the Pew Hispanic Center found that illegal immigrants account for 12 percent of workers in the foodpreparation business, The New York Times reported last month. They account for one in 20 workers, the center said.

"More than half of the estimated 7 million immigrants toiling illegally in the United States get a regular paycheck every week or two, experts say. At the end of the year, they receive a W-2 form. Come April 15, many file income tax returns using special ID numbers issued by the Internal Revenue Service so foreigners can pay taxes. Some even get a refund check in the mail."


CORPORATE REALITY

While the stereotypical image of the illegal immigrant is someone paid in cash and working under the table for labor companies, the Pew Hispanic Center's study and an interview by a Times reporter found "a majority now work for mainstream companies, not fly-by-night operators, and are hired and paid like any other American worker."

Clearly, America's corporations turn a blind eye when it comes to hiring immigrants. The Times' article noted that it is partly because they have little to fear, even if illegals are found on the payroll. While fines can range from $275 to $11,000 for each worker, "fines are typically negotiated down, and employers are almost always let off the hook. Only 46 people were convicted in 2004 for hiring illegal immigrants; the annual number has been roughly the same for the last decade."

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, recognizes the problem facing employers. Cornyn, chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, said the proposed DHS rule tightening the no-match provision won't subject businesses to sanctions "if businesses follow these procedures in good faith."

But he said it did little to address "the underlying problem. Employers do not have a reliable method to ascertain whether employees are eligible to work in the United States."

Cornyn said the solution appears to be dumping a paperbased system for one based on electronic verification.

He said a recent report by the Government Accountability Office, the auditing arm of Congress, found "a small percentage of employers are responsible for a large percentage of no-match letters." One of those employers used a single Social Security number for 2,580 different wage earners.

Like Pearl said, "It takes two to tango."


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