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butterbean · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 2271

EMPLOYERS ARE using Social Security data to target and dismiss immigrant workers in view of proposed changes to government regulations--and if the rules formally take effect, millions of workers’ jobs could be at risk.

The regulations would give the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversight of Social Security Administration (SSA) “no match” letters--notifications sent to employers pointing out discrepancies between the Social Security numbers used by workers and those on file with the SSA. If workers’ Social Security numbers don’t match SSA files, and the workers can’t file the required documents in time, employers would be compelled to terminate them.

“The SSA no-match issue is yet another consequence of the framing of the legislative debate around a ‘broken immigration system,’ that needs a ‘national security’ fix and a corporate fix,” observed Ana Avendaño, who heads immigration policy at the AFL-CIO. “That has inspired DHS to offer quick fixes both to save face and to give the Administration an easy victory.”
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What’s more, she said, “the proposed no-match rules just give employers an even more powerful weapon to use against workers. With the new rule in hand, during organizing campaigns, for example, employers will no doubt argue that it was the SSA rule that caused them to question workers' immigration status, not the fact that workers were organizing.”

In the past, employers were explicitly prohibited from using Social Security no-match letters as an indication of workers’ immigration status. Labor lawyers and immigrant rights activists often succeeded in forcing employers to back down when they fired workers in relation to no-match letters.

But under rules proposed by the DHS in June, employers would be forced to do the opposite--proceed on the assumption that a no-match letter is evidence that an employee is unauthorized to work, unless and until proven otherwise.

Moreover, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities would consider a no-match letter to be an indication employers had “constructive knowledge” that “unauthorized” employees were on the job--in other words, that management knowingly hired undocumented workers, which would result in fines and other penalties.

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http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=72&ItemID=10961

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