Posted on 06/09/2006 4:41:41 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
WASHINGTON — Responding to bipartisan criticism, the Bush administration announced new regulations Friday aimed at cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the rules will streamline the procedure businesses follow to verify Social Security numbers and process I-9 forms for eligibility to work in the United States.
“Most businesses want to do the right thing when it comes to employing legal workers,” Chertoff said in a statement accompanying the new regulations.
President Bush previewed the regulations last week in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in which he urged Congress to pass an immigration bill that includes measures to strengthen worksite enforcement of immigration law.
The new rules were applauded by lawmakers, who have criticized lax enforcement of immigration laws regarding employers who hire illegal workers.
“While the vast majority of employers seek to comply with the law, many employers turn a blind eye,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
Cornyn said responsible employers also have been hampered by conflicting and impractical procedures.
“The absence of clear guidance has frustrated employers and, all too often, legal employees end up losing their jobs,” he said.
The new regulations were announced DHS in advance of a Senate hearing this month to look into worksite enforcement.
“Current employment verifications laws are unworkable and unenforceable,” said Cornyn, chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration.
“An employer must review some combination of 29 different documents to determine whether a new worker is legal,” he said.
One of the new regulations would allow employers to digitize, or keep by electronic means, the I-9 employment forms that verify a worker's eligibility for employment in the United States.
Many business owners have complained that processing the forms creates excessive paperwork.
Another rule would require employers to inform federal immigration authorities when they receive a notice from the Social Security Administration that a potential employee's Social Security number does not match data on file.
About 10 percent of the 250 million wage reports processed by the Social Security Administration do not match, according to DHS.
“Under current law, the immigration enforcement agents at the Department of Homeland Security are not informed of these mismatches. The system isn't working,” Bush told business leaders last week in announcing the new regulations.
The new regulations are now subject to a 60-day public comment period.
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gmartin@express-news.net
25 million do not match!!!
Now you know why everybody - except GWB and the Senate - keep tossing the the 20+ million figures around.
Sad, huh?
This is, I think, a good start on the "employer" issue.
I don't see any "enforcement / inspection" plans laid out and that concerns me.
Toss 'em a bone type stuff?
It may sound a bit simplistic, but all they would have to do is deputize OSHA inspectors as ICE agents...
Well, some of us who were slow changing our new married names at the SSA might contribute to that overall number.
Took me ten years, and I'm not illegal.
How does this statement make any sense?
""Responding to bipartisan criticism, the Bush administration announced new regulations Friday aimed at cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.""
sure they will....................suuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrre they will. Oh sure!
DHS Ping!
Where are the sanctions/fines/jail, for 1st time/multiple violations for offending businesses and the OWNERS/CEO'S?
Proven, intentional violation should be in the range of $10,000 fine for 1st offense
$50,000 for second offense, and
$100,000 and up to a year in jail for third offense.
Want to see the "undocumented worker" problem go away in a year?
Since FY 1990, when observers warned that low levels of enforcement threatened to undermine employer sanctions' deterrent effect, the number of audits per fiscal year dropped 77 percent from a peak of almost 10,000 to less than 2,200 in FY 2003. While audits jumped up from FY 1997 to FY 1998 and again from FY 2002 to FY 2003, the overall trend can only be described as a steep decline http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=332
Many is smaller than vast majority.
Wouldn't it be better if the government simply deported them all, instead of cracking down on employers, who are already given many things to do for the government?
Now please, you know that the full weight of the government will be put behind these new regulations but they just don't have the man power or money and besides after the Senate bill becomes law we won't need the regulations. Where is your trust? Don't you believe that the Feds will carry through on this? My My.....I sure don't!
My wife tried repeatedly to change her s.s. card name to reflect the fact that she has a new name. Every time the s.s. office tells her that it has been changed. After 17 years she gave up. We have to file our fed taxes using her maiden name or it gets rejected.
It could be that it has been changed and that IRS is the agency screwing up. Either way - they are both gov. agencies.
“WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US.” Pogo
This administration will start to thwart illegal immigration when it begins raining up instead of down : )
"WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS GLOBALIST RHINO"
SJB
uh, I still haven't done it and I've been married 31 years. Never turned my homework in, either.
Based on the current track record you are absolutely correct. I would say that some of the screams of NO from the land must be being heard somewhere in DC. Talk about a tone deal group, this one beats all.
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