AFL-CIO and ACLU sue Homeland Security

Washington Times ^ | August 30, 2007 | Stephen Dinan and Jerry Seper

[3AngelaD]

The AFL-CIO and ACLU yesterday sued to stop the Homeland Security Department from cracking down on illegal-alien workers, asking a federal judge to halt new checks on employees' Social Security numbers because they could violate workers' rights and lead companies to preemptively fire American workers. The labor union federation and the civil liberties group are the latest critics to attack the new rules, arguing that because of errors in the Social Security database, U.S. citizens and legal immigrants will get caught up in the process, and businesses will use it as an excuse to go after legal workers.

"This rule is a new tool to repress workers' rights in the name of phony immigration enforcement," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO....

Under the new rules, DHS says employers should give employees 90 days to rectify the error and then fire the employee. In the past, many employers were advised by lawyers to ignore the "no-match" letters. The groups that filed the lawsuit said businesses have used no-match letters as a basis of firing employees who have complained about workplace conditions or suffered on-the-job injuries.The new rule goes into effect Sept. 14.

The AFL-CIO and the ACLU filed their suit with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco, part of the 9th U.S. Circuit, which has a reputation for favoring the rights of immigrants and illegal aliens....

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the department is going ahead, and called the lawsuit "an obvious attempt to impede the department's ability to enforce our immigration laws. "It is completely without merit and we intend to fight it vigorously," Mr. Knocke said.

[3AngelaD]

Notice this was filed in California's notorious 9th Circuit. So, the AFL-CIO stops representing the interests of American workers and takes up for illegal aliens, who are competing with the Americans for their jobs. Interesting, and I wonder how people who pay union dues interpret this.

[Tulane]

Truly Amazing.

What a combo ...AFL-CIO and the ACLU...

[Tulane]

Truly Amazing.

What a combo ...AFL-CIO and the ACLU...

[massgopguy]

“Preemptively fire American workers.” Mr Sweeney, you have a serious head injury. I suggest you go to an Emergency Room.

[keepitreal]

Aren’t unions supposed to represent their members by working towards better pay? Representing the interests of illegals certainly doesn’t help raise the pay of members.

[econjack]

"...businesses have used no-match letters as a basis of firing employees..."

As far as I'm concerned, if you show up as a no-match, you're an illegal alien. It then becomes your job to prove otherwise. Arguing that there are "errors in the SS database" is like saying that there might be some spelling errors if we examine 140 million books. Using that specious argument to toss out a valid means by which to keep illegal aliens from taking US workers' jobs is stupid.

[econjack]

Representing the interests of illegals certainly doesn’t help raise the pay of members.

That's a secondary goal of the union. The primary goal is to get every worker to be a dues-paying member of the union to consolidate power. They don't care if they are illegal aliens or not, as long as they have to join the union and pay dues.

[Neoliberalnot]

One more atrocity committed by the ACLU to destroy America as a sovereign and decent nation.

[OKIEDOC]

Why is it that the ACLU always rises to the top in the proverbial sewer of what is wrong in America?

If I was an AFL-CIO member this would be the Mountain that broke the back of my support.

At least it’s two slim ball organizations representing their own agendas and not what is best for America.

[OKIEDOC]

That seems to be their agenda and America be damned.

[OriginalIntent]

The ACLU is a complete political fraud and they always have been. They have served the far left and the hyper-secular humanistic liberals very well. They wanted to destroy traditional America and our Godly heritage, they want to stack the deck against our population who still believes the Bible and is steadfastly tied to our relgious, cultural and legal history. They are angry and at war with our very way of life.

The ACLU bases everything they do on a foundation of lies and is worse than aggressive cancer.

[Convert from ECUSA]

The AFL-CIO and the AMCommieLiarsUnion need to collectively sit on air hoses, turn them on and rotate!

[CottonBall]

As far as I'm concerned, if you show up as a no-match, you're an illegal alien. It then becomes your job to prove otherwise.

That's what the new law says as well. Once the employer verifies that there are no typos in the documents, it becomes the employees responsibility to fix the problem. Anyone with a legal right to work in the country will have the necessary documents, of course.