New DHS ID rule will cripple California's economy

We wrote yesterday about how businesses in Florida are worried about a new DHS rule requiring businesses to clarify, within sixty days, the situation of employees whose Social Security numbers and tax records show problems and mismathces — and let these employees go if the situation cannot be satisfactorily clarified (meaning that the Social Security numbers are probably forged and that the employee is an illegal alien). California businesses, which employ the majority of illegal immigrants throughout the country, are also reeling after federal officials announced this new workplace crackdown. People in industries as diverse as California’s hotels and massive farms, its restaurants and convalescent homes, said Wednesday they are confused and fear they could be forced into mass firings. Those at risk are employers who’ve received letters from the Social Security Administration saying their workers’ numbers don’t match names in federal databases.

The Sacramento Bee’s Susan Ferriss writes that as early as this month, DHS plans to require all employers who have received those letters to fire the workers if the discrepancy cannot be resolved relatively quickly. The department is planning to use the letters to track down employers and conduct raids if necessary, leading to fines or prosecution of businesses that don’t fire the workers in question. DHS has been considering using Social Security information as a tool to enforce immigration laws for some time, but officials were waiting to see if Congress would approve changes to put some illegal immigrants on a path to legal residency.

Central Valley farmers — and other agricultural interests who provide a large percentage of the nation’s food — are warning Americans that they believe small businesses could go under and that prices could soar or products could become scarce. “This is the nightmare I always hoped we would never get to,” said Manuel Cuhna of the Nisei Farmers League, an industry association in the San Joaquin Valley, a cradle of American food production. “I’m totally agitated about this,” Cuhna said. “Everybody has received those letters, 90 percent of them in the farm industry. We’re going to have to shut down the food chain.” Cuhna said he and others are frustrated because, “One part of the government has been telling us not to fire workers, and now another is going to tell us to fire them.”

Many California employers see the new DHS policy as an attack on the same businesses that have for years implored Congress to create better tools to help them check the veracity of workers’ documents. They also were counting on Congress to provide more legal work visas to foreign workers they need in many jobs. Some Social Security numbers are stolen by fraudulent document artists, but most of the mismatches in numbers are thought to be due to illegal immigrants’ use of invented Social Security numbers.