Data can’t be used to screen workers
By Lisa Friedman
Days after unveiling a major crackdown on businesses that hire illegal immigrants, the Bush administration is now quietly admitting that its most heavily touted weapon in pursuing employers will be virtually useless.
At the heart of the new rules announced last week is toughened Homeland Security enforcement of so-called “no match” letters – which the Social Security Administration sends to companies when employees have questionable identification numbers.
But Homeland Security officials acknowledged this week that because of a privacy provision in the IRS code, immigration officials will actually have no way of knowing which employers have received “no-match” letters, which have complied and which have not.”While we don’t get information directly from the Social Security Administration, we do see that we get a lot of tips,” DHS spokeswoman Veronica Nun Valdez said. “There are number of people that do come forward and tell us an employer is not conforming with the law.”
In addition to working with informants, Valdez said immigration officials plan to step up investigations and raids, which will likely yield sanctions against violating companies.
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