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Calif. Judge Backs Immigrants

October 11, 2007

A federal judge has blocked a proposed rule requiring employers to fire workers whose names don’t match their Social Security numbers, dealing a major blow to the Bush administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Under the rule, businesses with employees whose names and Social Security numbers didn’t match would have three months to correct the mistakes or fire the employees. If not, they could face government prosecution.

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Businesses had argued that enforcing the rule would be expensive and expose them to legal action either from the government, if they didn’t comply, or from any employees fired unfairly because of a mistake not corrected in time. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer’s temporary injunction, issued Wednesday, stopped the Department of Homeland Security proposal from going into effect, at least temporarily.

Breyer said the proposal would likely impose hardships on businesses and their workers. Employers would incur new costs to comply with the regulation that the government hasn’t evaluated, and innocent workers unable to correct mistakes in their records in time would lose their jobs, the judge wrote.

The decision was disappointing, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, but it wasn’t more than a “bump in the road” in the agency’s drive to vigorously enforce laws aimed at keeping illegal immigrants out of the work force.

The government will evaluate the “modest legal obstacles” presented by the judge, addressing them in litigation or outside court, as it examines its options and determines whether to appeal the decision, Chertoff said.

Written by Ernie · Filed Under Immigration 

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