Illegal Immigrant Notices On Hold

Federal Judge Issues Temporary Restraining Order Amid AFL-CIO Lawsuit

(AP)  The Social Security Administration cannot start sending out letters to employers next week containing notification of more serious penalties for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Ruling on a lawsuit by the nation's largest federation of labor unions against the U.S. government, U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the so-called "no-match" letters from going out as planned starting Tuesday.

The AFL-CIO lawsuit, filed this week, claims that new Department of Homeland Security rules outlined in accompanying letters threaten to violate workers' rights and unfairly burden employers. Chesney said the court needs "breathing room" before making any decision on the legality of new penalties aimed at cracking down on the hiring of illegal immigrants.

She set the next hearing on the matter for Oct. 1.

The Social Security Administration has sent out "no-match" letters for more than two decades warning employers of discrepancies in the information the government has on their workers. Employers often brushed aside the letters, and the small fines that sometimes were incurred, as a cost of doing business.

But this year, those letters will be accompanied by notices from the Department of Homeland Security outlining strict new requirements for employers to resolve those discrepancies within 90 days or face fines or criminal prosecution, if they're deemed to have knowingly hired illegal immigrants.

The judge's ruling Friday temporarily prohibits the government from enforcing the new rules, which were scheduled to take effect Sept. 14.

Laura Keehner, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, said the agency was disappointed but expects to prevail once the court hears its full arguments.

"We'll continue to uphold the law," Keehner said late Friday. "We'll continue our enforcement efforts, and we'll continue to discourage employers who flagrantly disregard immigration laws. There are consequences for those actions."

U.S. government lawyers argued that the Social Security Administration needed to start sending the letters next week because postponing the staggered mailings would overwhelm staffers with a flood of responses if they finally do go out all at once.

Chesney did note rule on the merits of the case Friday but said the plaintiffs raised "serious questions" that need to be further examined by the court about whether the new rules run afoul of the law.

"It's a critical and very significant first step in the first legal challenge of this rule," said Lucas Guttentag, national director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project and one of the plaintiffs' lawyers.

In its lawsuit, the plaintiffs argue that the Bush administration could inadvertently harm legal U.S. workers and law-abiding businesses in its quest to punish employers who are knowingly breaking the law.

The suit says the new rules could lead to the unfair firing of legal workers. The vast majority of the discrepancies in the Social Security Administration's database - more than 70 percent of the 17.8 million discrepancies, according to a 2006 report by the SSA's Office of the Inspector General - involve native-born U.S. citizens, the lawsuit notes.

The plaintiffs also argue that many of the discrepancies are caused by clerical errors, or stem from name changes or different naming conventions - such as the use of multiple surnames - that are popular particularly among Asians and Latin Americans.

[redbarron73]

By the way, anyone else notice that Elvira Arellano is pregnant. Big surprise.

[standlee5]

Has the AFLCIO moved it''s base to Mexico City. Wht a sellout the unions and Democrats have become. Both only care about votes not the American worker.

[my2centss]

I am glad that the AFL-CIO is here to protect the American worker...I mean Mexican American worker. Always wondered why they support NAFTA. Maybe they are not protecting the US workers anymore.

[slim1h2o]

In another 40 years, even if we were somehow able to do the impossible and deport every undocumented worker here, the US have a majority population of people of Hispanic decent. So the answer to your question is that Hispanic/Americans will be running this country completely. Get used to it, because it''''s as inevitable as the sunrise and there is nothing that can or should be done to stop it.
Posted by SgtRDS at 06:20 PM : Sep 02, 2007

I think you''re a sell out Randy, no I''m not a racist either, so don''t say it!

[sgtrds]

People are failing to realize that the unions are trying to protect everyone on this item.

It is NOT just about illegals - it is a privacy issue.

Actually, every self-employed and business owner should be thanking the AFL-CIO. Enforcement is a federal responsiblity.

Posted by IOWEIGN at 12:05 PM : Sep 01, 2007

And there is also the fact that the Unions are also protecting the workers safety, which is one of the things we need a Union for in a over-sympathetic pro-big business regime like we have now. Bush and his fools have been one of the best things that has happened to the unions because they''re turning Americans against the idiocy of big business running our government completely. By doing everything he can to privatise eveything (including our military) crush workers rights and destroy safety regulations (including those that are supposed to protect our miners) Bush is driving more people back to the union idea in order for workers to defend themselves from the bloated CEO''s and their drive for money even at the cost of workers health and lives. Soon the Unions maybe the only defensive line standing between the American people and thier own out of control government.

[sgtrds]

Who in the he*ll is running this country? Us, Americans or the Mexicans?


Posted by nikosk1 at 06:51 AM : Sep 02, 2007


In another 40 years, even if we were somehow able to do the impossible and deport every undocumented worker here, the US have a majority population of people of Hispanic decent. So the answer to your question is that Hispanic/Americans will be running this country completely. Get used to it, because it''s as inevitable as the sunrise and there is nothing that can or should be done to stop it.

[Krazcarl]

What is the big deal why can''t we send them home and confiscate any property to pay for the hassle. In the last 20 tears every town has an illegal section it''s getting to the point of spainish sighns. *** I forgot there easy to exploit cheap labor.

[likeitis5050]

I''''m afraid that every major US city will soon look like Mexico City.
Posted by redbarron73 at 07:04 PM : Sep 01, 2007


?csmo es su espaqol, mi amigo? Usted no tiene mucho tiempo para ponerse a bordo.

My best friend: http://translation2.paralink.com/

[redbarron73]

I can sympathize with the Mexican who risks life & limb to sneak into this country in pursuit of a better life. I might even do the same under some circumstances. The thing that bothers me is the sheer number of them and the fact that this culture seems to have no common sense when it comes to population control. 6 to 10 or more children per family is commonplace in this culture AND every baby that drops on US soil is automatically a citizen. The estimated 12 million or so illegals becomes 120 million LEGALS in only a couple of generations, in an already overpopulated world. I''m afraid that every major US city will soon look like Mexico City.

[likeitis5050]

Labor unions are not anti-American. IOWEIGN

No, the aren''t Anti-American...just pro-me-me-me.

[jetranger7]

BUSH and the Inspector General, has just givin way, for 100-MEXICAN Trucking Companies to be allowed to Cross the Border and come anywhere in the US, to bring their DRUGS and other Dangerous UN-INSPECTED CARGO into the US, with Wreckless Dis Reguard for Saftey !!! I urge all Drivers to Run the state Scales, no longer will we Stop at Weigh Stations, and abide by Dot rules and regulations, let the War and Choas begin, the FIGHT is on, Stay the Hell out of our Way, or suffer the Consequences, DOT !!!!!!!!

[DocD--2008]

This judge needs to be moooved to animal court...

[slim1h2o]

She''''s a scam artist.


posted by likeitis5050 at 12:56 PM : Sep 01, 2007 Well said, In fact the only reason the church is helping her is because they like the company of little Saul..............You know those priests

[likeitis5050]

USAisdway189 I work with a Spanish translator who is sick of the game the illegals are playing. It took her years and $$$$ to 3 countries to get her husband here and now she has to listen to illegals cry for help when they get caught with 3 different identity cards or get stuck here with babies after their men desert them. She has watched them get scooted away by police for stealing billfolds and cashing checks (hers, by the way). Then we have to listen to bleeding hearts talk about how they deserve to have a life here...h..ell yes they do...as legal immigrants...not thieves and liars. No one went and brought them here on a ship and chained them to posts to keep them here. What the h...ell? Creeps who know how to cheat a system before they ever get here. Creeps in high positions hiding behind religion or some high profile position working hard to make sure these theives stay here...for personal gain. They couldn''t care less how many Americans suffer or do without in the process of keeping these criminals here. The chick kicked out after hiding in the church for a year is still trying to run game and her own government is on to her. She''s a scam artist.

[usaisdway189]

IOWEIGH,

You are obviously talking about the Labor Unions before the mid-1980s - the ones that came out of the Haymarket martyrs, the Molly Maguires, the Ludlow Massacres and other anti-worker incidents. The ones led by people who truly had the best interests of the AMERICAN worker at heart. You could even tip your hat a little for the Communist Party of the USA back then, for as regrettable and stupid as they were in their grovelling to the monster Uncle Joe Stalin and ''ore Russia, they also pushed for a 40 hour week and a decent wage.

Even the AFL-CIO in the 1960s and 1970s were led by a good man, George Meany, who represented TRUE Democracy and fairness for American workers, and keeping our jobs at home - NOT ILLEGALS.

Of course, IOWEIGH, Meany was also a NEO-CON. Something I''m sure in your addled moveon.org kool-aid drinking mind is very much anathema.

Now, led by an anti-American, anti-American worker golf playing sieg heiler, they could care less for the 40 hour week, or if workers who pay into the union, like those in Los Angeles get a fair minimum wage or decent cost-of-living increases. All they care about is THEIR paycheck, their agenda, and their beloved ILLEGAL. You had better do some research, bozo.

Fact is, the bloated, anti-American worker AFL-CIO under Stern in 2007 is NOT the idealistic, good AFL-CIO of 1890 under people like Gompers and Hillman.

[edintex]

Labor unions are not anti-American.
What next - OSHA is anti-American ??
Enjoy your Labor Day ! Enjoy your 40 hour week !
Posted by IOWEIGN at 12:31 PM : Sep 01, 2007

Labor Unions are USELESS compared to OSHA.

OSHAs job is to protect the American workers from being hurt while on the job.

Labor Unions are ultimately responsible for people not having jobs in the first place. They artificially raise the cost of doing business so high that US companies cannot compete with internationals anymore.

And for Labor Day and 40 hr work weeks, I am self employed. If I don''t work, I don''t earn money no matter WHAT day it is! And thats by choice!

[ioweign]

Labor unions are not anti-American.

What next - OSHA is anti-American ??

Enjoy your Labor Day !

Enjoy your 40 hour week !

[klingon69]

We are a very sad nation,when a large percent of the population believed that a person because of his look as Hispanic make him or her illegal, some of the comments are so full of ignorance and in the same time dangerous they are using the immigration problems to attack my Hispanic comunity also my son born and raise in this country if you read history this happen before in a country name Germany
Posted by frankmedina2 at 10:04 AM : Sep 01, 2007
Like several of the simple-minded persons on this thread, since you have no valid arguement you''ll throw out that old race card, and this time compare us with Nazi Germany. Where in this thread is somebody attacking a particular race? I found none. There is no problem with LEGAL immigrants, it''s these border crossing, fence jumping, filthy *** squatters that we have objections to. As for your son, were you a legal resident of this country when he was born? Or is he just another anchor baby that the tax-paying citizenry of this country have to pick up the tab for? Come legally or don''t come at all.

[jowand]

Maxine Chesney is in San Francisco California and a 1995 Clinto appointment, says it all!

[usaisdway189]

likeitis,

very well said - and right to the point.

Most of us are grandsons, granddaughters, sons and daughters of IMMIGRANTS - LEGAL IMMIGRANTS, NOT ILLEGAL ALIENS. That is the point.

Only those who hate our country would applaud the actions of those who wish to bring ILLEGALS in without benefit of learning English, without applying for citizenship, and for not obeying our laws. Try staying in Mexico ILLEGALLY and speaking English all the time...

And defending the indefensible actions of an organization that has done nothing but enrich itself on the backs of workers while American jobs go elsewhere. The same organization that claims it defends our work force - while patting the ILLEGAL on the back - Stern''s AFL-CIO.

As for RandyBoBS calling himself "SGT", he''s about as much a sarge as Osama Bin Laden or his late, unlamented boyfriend Saddam were. Cut the act, bozo, we''re on to it.