Thread: The 'ICE' Age Cometh

The 'ICE' Age Cometh
August 14, 2007: 08:05 PM EST
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/art ... 898176.htm

Aug. 14, 2007 (Investor's Business Daily delivered by Newstex) --

Immigration: It is illegal for employers to hire illegal aliens. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff wants to enforce this federal law and remove a major incentive to illegal immigration. It's about time.

The last time "comprehensive" immigration reform was signed into law in 1986 it included civil and criminal punishment of employers who knowingly hired illegal workers. Like most of the enforcement provisions of that legislation, however, the level of enforcement has largely been a wink-wink effort.

But a policy announced by DHS chief Chertoff in the face of congressional inaction on immigration would replace those winks with a cold stare from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which now has the job of making sure existing law is followed.

As recently as 2004, just 65 federal agents were assigned to the workplace beat, with only three -- count 'em, three -- employers being notified of fines. Apparently President Bush had this in mind in October 2005 when he said: "We've got to crack down on employers who flout our laws."

Chertoff seems to be following both the president's and our recent advice, which is: In the absence of any new and meaningful legislation, just enforce laws already on the books. That's it. Simple.

Each year, literally millions of W-2s are filed with Social Security numbers that do not match Social Security Administration records, either because the number itself is bogus or the name does not match the one on the account.

Traditionally, when the SSA couldn't match a W-2 to a worker, it would send a letter to the address on the W-2. If the letter came back undeliverable or the worker did not respond, a letter was sent to the employer (OOTC:EPLI) and that was about it.

That was then, this is now.

Homeland Security department spokesman Russ Knocke said of the new policy announced Friday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement "is going to be tough and aggressive in the enforcement of the law. You are going to see more work site cases. And no more excuses."

Interest groups such as the National Restaurant Association and the American Farm Bureau Federation have warned of dire economic consequences as a result of the new policy.

The Farm Bureau's director of public policy, Paul Schlegel, estimates that half of the nation's 1 million farmworkers do not have valid Social Security numbers.

But the law is the law, and until a new one supersedes it or the old one is repealed, one shouldn't count on the law not being enforced.

Chertoff announced that fines against employers will be raised 25% and that the department will expand criminal investigations of employers who knowingly hire large numbers of illegal immigrants. This year 742 arrests have been made, up from only 24 in 1999.

DHS issued a regulation that will take effect in 30 days and will give employers 90 days to resolve any discrepancy between the Social Security number provided by an employee and government records. Chertoff said the SSA will be sending out about 15,000 "no match" letters a week over a two-month period.

The federal government is not immune from these new rules. Nor are we dealing just with nannies, busboys and farmworkers, as has been suggested. DHS also plans to require all 200,000 defense contractors to use an electronic employment verification system.

In June 2005, agents arrested 26 illegal workers with access to a Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) shipyard in Mississippi. A month later, 48 were arrested at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. They were working for a Salt Lake City defense contractor.

This January, ICE agents arrested more than 40 illegal aliens hired by defense contractors working on three military bases -- 24 were arrested trying to enter Fort Benning, Ga., to do construction work on soldiers' barracks.

Eighteen were arrested in Virginia, including three at the Quantico Marine Base. One of those arrested, a Nicaraguan hired to do construction at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, was a member of the violent and virulent Latin American gang, MS-13.

Can you say Fort Dix Six?

The U.S. cannot long sustain uncontrolled illegal immigration. We need to both build a fence to control the border and reduce the incentive of illegals to cross it. This is an issue of law, economics and national security.

If my social security number did not match up on any application, I would hear about it the very next day. Why is it so hard for employers to match up numbers of illegals? I've made mistakes and the number is immediately kicked out.

I think this is just a mask for another amnesty bill. They are already crying that agricultural businesses are in trouble. Crops rotting in the field. This smacks of setting us up to see we need the illegals. They already have visas to bring in more illegals. I don't believe they are serious about enforcing the immigration laws at all. The 90 days to fire someone is just in your face. We'd be fired that day. So, they have 90 days to find a new job for another 90 days and they'll just keep doing it over and over.
We need the fence and real enforcement. Chertoff said on Lou last night this is supposed to show us we need comprehensive immigraion policies.
Here comes another amnesty bill.