Take a (Social Security) Number

No matter which of the candidates eventually claws his or her way to the Democratic nomination, illegal immigration is sure to be one of the issues that plays a prominent role in the November election. This issue was addressed a few months ago by The View HERE

At that time, we emphasized the importance of providing employers with tools to help them avoid hiring illegals. In this regard, the Department of Homeland Security, in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, developed a plan that would do just that. The basic idea was to have the Social Security Administration notify employers if they had employees whose Social Security Numbers did not match their names as shown on the Agency's records. Once this "No-Match" letter was received, the employer would have ninety days to resolve the issue before it faced penalties for hiring illegals. This is one of the most important checkpoints in the effort to stem the tide of illegal aliens because jobs are the primary attraction to illegals.

Almost immediately, A lawsuit was filed by the AFL-CIO, ACLU, and several labor groups seeking to stop the application of the No-Match rule, arguing that it would unfairly impact workers subject to the vagaries of government bureaucracies. Their concerns are contained in a posting on an ACLU Web Site, which says, in part:

Currently, employers who receive "no-match" letters stating that their employees' identification documents don't match SSA records are not required to take any action. The new DHS rule would impose liability on employers based on failure to respond to an SSA "no-match" letter, even though SSA errors are caused by many innocent factors such as typographical errors and name changes due to marriage or divorce, and the use of multiple surnames, which is common in many parts of the world. According to the Office of the Inspector General in SSA, 12.7 million of the 17.8 million discrepancies in SSA's database - more than 70% - belong to native-born U.S. citizens. Under the DHS rule, employers might be required to fire employees whose erroneous SSA records are not fixed within 90 days after the "no-match" letter is sent. The DHS rule would threaten jobs of U.S. citizens and other legally authorized workers simply because of errors in the government's inaccurate social security earnings database.

It was not by accident that the lawsuit was filed in the notoriously liberal US District Court of the Northern District of California, located, appropriately so, in San Francisco. Since the appeal of the Judge's ruling goes to the flaky Ninth Circuit, there seems to be a good chance that this question will eventually go to the Supremes. As an aside, with the courts playing a role in developing strategies to confront the tide of illegal immigration, then voters had best think again about the number of possible court appointees that will fall into the purview of the next President.

While creative proposals for tightening border security abound, many critics point out that at the very least, existing immigration laws should be aggressively enforced. Using readily available Social Security data as a tool against illegal immigration, seems like an easy first step in beefing up enforcement efforts. Reading the opponents concerns leaves one wondering if there aren't ways to deal with these potential problems while still implementing the program. Rejecting the whole No-match program is clearly overkill and negates the government's effort to stem the tide of illegal aliens. Moreover, the downside seems minimal as it is hard to believe that inadvertent clerical mistakes can't be resolved in ninety days through existing remedies. One would also think that all employees would demand that their Social Security contributions be properly credited so as to ensure eventual eligibility for benefits.

On Friday, The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement in support of its appeal of the Judge's ruling, saying, in part:

"We are serious about immigration enforcement. The No-Match Rule is an important tool for cracking down on illegal hiring practices while providing honest employers with the guidance they need," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

For those of us concerned about the burden of large numbers of illegal immigrants, these efforts by the Department of Homeland Security are reassuring that the government is taking positive action. At the same time, opponents of the "No-Match rule" seem to be using fantasized tales of employee discrimination to block a crucial law enforcement effort. This issue begs to be put to the presidential candidates to see how committed they are to strengthening America's homeland security.