Posted on 10/02/2007 9:21:30 PM PDT by neverdem
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Francisco has delayed by 10 days a decision as to whether the federal government has the right to target employers of illegal immigrants.
After hearing arguments in the case Monday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said he needed more time to make a decision on a case that has national implications.
At issue is whether the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration have the right to force businesses to terminate employees whose Social Security numbers don't match up with those on record.
Last month, the AFL-CIO stopped the proposed crackdown when it successfully filed for a temporary restraining order on the basis that not only are there bureaucratic problems that could lead to the unlawful firing of legal workers — but that it could also usher in an atmosphere of discrimination among legitimate immigrant workers simply looking for jobs.
"This is just the latest move to use the Social Security system to start enforcing illegal immigration, and it's causing a lot of high anxiety among employers and employees," said Doug Keegan, program manager for the Watsonville-based Santa Cruz County Immigration Project. "Our No. 1 fear is that people are going to start to overreact. It's already happening"
Already, a few farmworkers, he said, have lost their jobs in Davenport by growers worried the field hands might be on the Social Security Administration's "No Match" list — hundreds of thousands of letters that are expected to be mailed out across the country if the temporary restraining order is lifted. Keenan said he did not know the names of the growers, and that he heard of the layoffs in a meeting he had with farmworkers.
Immigration hardliners, however, say that targeting businesses is the right answer — one that is long overdue. And if businesses are getting worried and getting rid of their illegal labor pool, then the effort already is serving its purpose.
"What, people think that people should be allowed to submit false information and get away with it? That's absurd," said Mark Krikorian, executive director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank. "It's self-evident that the Social Security Administration needs to demand that employers fix mistakes in Social Security numbers. Almost 90 percent of Americans already think it's being done. Go and tell somebody that this is a controversy in the courts, and they'll say, 'How can that be?'"
It is no secret that many undocumented workers buy fake Social Security numbers on the black market and that employers often accept them as genuine.
Regardless, "No Match" letters could have serious consequences in Santa Cruz County, where an estimated 20,000 undocumented workers toil in agriculture, construction and the hospitality industry, said Keegan.
He pointed to a recent raid carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a McDonald's in Reno as a bad example of how the federal government should be dealing with the problem of illegal immigration.
"Raids completely destabilize the work place," Keegan said.
What's worse is that there's nobody there to replace the workers who have been arrested and deported, said Benjamin Johnson, executive director for the Immigration Policy Center, another Washington, D.C. think tank.
"All of this is a Band-Aid solution to the problem," he said. "It doesn't work. We're trying to cobble together a solution one piece at a time instead of attacking the entire issue at hand. And there's no strategy to replace those workers who get caught up in these raids. For those who think the workers should be native born, I ask this: What's the strategy for replacing the illegal immigrants with native born or with legal workers? We're assuming that the jobs will get better and they'll be filled by legal workers, but we're not doing anything to fill them right now. This is the charade of the enforcement policy"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Tom Ragan at tragan@santacruzsentinel.com.
Breyer, Charles R.
Born 1941 in San Francisco, CA
Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of California
Nominated by William J. Clinton on July 24, 1997, to a seat vacated by D. Lowell Jensen; Confirmed by the Senate on November 8, 1997, and received commission on November 12, 1997.
Education:
Harvard College, A.B., 1963
University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D., 1966
Professional Career:
Law clerk, Hon. Oliver Carter, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 1966-1967
Counsel, Legal Aid Society of San Francisco, California, 1967
Assistant district attorney, District Attorney’s Office, City & County of San Francisco, California, 1967-1973
Assistant special prosecutor, Watergate Special Prosecution Force, 1973-1974
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1974-1979
Chief assistant district attorney, District Attorney’s Office, City and County of San Francisco, California, 1979
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1980-1997
Race or Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Looks like Big Labor is doing what it can to encourage illegal immigration.
“Assistant special prosecutor, Watergate Special Prosecution Force, 1973-1974”
Interesting. Hillary’s friend from the old Watergate days?
The Administration should announce that the judge cannot delay any longer than 10 days. After 10 days, if no decision (with formal written opinion) has been reached, then the letters will go out no matter what else he rules. What’s he going to do...fine them? Lol.
I hope it does go to SCOTUS. Go ahead Judge Breyers, make my day.
Translation: The under-the-table bribes from the pro-illegals aren't big enough yet.
A Right? No its not their right, its their duty.
ping
Thanks for the links.
Federal Judge Breyer Runs Up Against Brother's Supreme Court Ruling
Indeed, he is. BTTT!
Unbelievable!
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