No match, no job
Any day now, the Department of Homeland Security is expected to unveil new rules requiring employers to fire workers whose Social Security numbers don't match their names. But critics say don't expect those workers to go home. Jeremy Hobson reports.
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Scott Jagow: Congress tried but failed to pass an immigration bill this summer. But the Bush Administration isn’t sitting around moping about it. This week, the feds will likely unveil a tougher policy on businesses that hire illegals, specifically, when a worker’s name doesn’t match his social security number. More now from Jeremy Hobson.
Jeremy Hobson: For years, the Social Security Administration has sent out no-match letters when there was a discrepancy.
But new rules as drafted would give the employer a limited amount of time to clear it up or face fines of up to $10,000. Increased raids on workplaces could be on the way as well.
Department of Homeland Security Spokesman Russ Knocke:
Russ Knocke: I think employers are going to get the message that it’s far more advantageous for them to do the right thing.
But Laura Reiff with the Essential Workers Immigration Coalition doubts that the new measures will have the desired effect.
Laura Reiff: We can predict, and I think we can predict with fair certainty, that employers that receive no-match letters and end up having to terminate employees will not see those employees or those workers just start streaming back across the border into Mexico.
Reiff says she hopes Congress takes this as a cue to take another crack at comprehensive immigration reform as soon as possible.
In Washington, I’m Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.