Thread: Social Security insanity hardly a match made in heaven

Warning: Lib-idiot, illegal alien hugger:
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Social Security insanity hardly a match made in heaven


Albor Ruiz

Sunday, September 2nd 2007, 4:00 AM
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/200 ... atch_.html

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Those who did everything possible to derail immigration reform are now salivating over the so-called Social Security "no-match" letters.

On Tuesday, the Social Security Administration will start sending 140,000 of them to employers nationwide.

The letters tell the employers of an estimated 8 million workers that any employee without a valid Social Security number must be fired. A recent ruling by the Department of Homeland Security warns that employers who ignore the warning will face stern legal sanctions.

The jury is still out about the degree of economic devastation this ruling will cause, but practically everybody agrees that it will be considerable. The letters and the new rule will mean an unprecedented mass layoff of millions of hardworking employees.

"The millions of immigrant workers who pick our food, take care of our children and elderly and in thousands of other ways greatly contribute to our economy deserve better treatment," said Héctor Figueroa, Local 32BJ secretary-treasurer. "These punitive and shortsighted enforcement measures are fundamentally un-American."

In New York, the restaurant industry is bound to be hard hit. It is estimated that 40% of its employees are undocumented.

The irony is that, according to the Social Security Administration's own estimates, 75% of the undocumented workers pay Social Security, Medicare and other federal payroll taxes. It is calculated that undocumented workers have paid a total of $585 billion in taxes over time - money to which they have no access to because of their legal status.

The regulations, which will become effective Sept. 14, give business owners 90 days to explain a discrepancy once they find out that an employee's Social Security number is not valid.

After that time, employers will be forced to fire workers without proper Social Security cards.

The situation is so threatening to the survival of thousands of businesses and even whole industries that more than 5,000 business firms, unions and immigration advocacy groups have written the department asking it not to send the letters out.

They argue that the new rules would devastate local businesses, lead to chaotic worker turnover across industries and put millions of lawful, permanent residents out of work.

A report issued in December from the Social Security Administration's office of the inspector general gives a worrisome indication of the chaos to come.

THE MISMATCHES, the report said, are more often the result of clerical errors, misspellings and other mistakes than fraudulent Social Security numbers. More than 70% of the discrepancies involved U.S. citizens.

"The current Social Security system is much like our immigration system - it is broken. To send out no-match letters based on a backlogged system full of discrepancies will lead to unfair firings and wrongful deportations," Figueroa said.

In New York, restaurant owners are as scared as the workers about the consequences of the new regulations.

They insist that, with rents and other expenses at a record high, without these laborers there is no way their businesses could be profitable. Many of the 15,000 restaurants and bars in New York City, they say, would go bankrupt and close their doors.

Things also look pretty grim for the construction, agriculture and health care industries, among others.

Which is why to those who await the "no-match" letters with relish we can only say: Be careful what you wish for.

They printed this article even after the judges ruling?!

Judging by the picutre -that is ONE intense looking guy...and very very angry...