WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will develop a new program by March 24 to crack down on restaurateurs and other employers who hire illegal immigrants, the agency said in a legal brief filed last week. The document also indicated that the Bush administration would not contest a legal challenge of Homeland Security’s earlier enforcement plan, which would have forced employers to fire employees with documentation problems within 90 days or face fines of up to $10,000.
The brief was filed in response to a federal judge's decision last month to delay indefinitely the implementation of that initial program. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer prohibited Homeland Security from including the fire-or-be-fined language in "no match" letters, the communications that are routinely sent out by the Social Security Administration when an employee's Social Security information does not match federal records.
The letters blocked by Breyer would have alerted employers that an employee with a discrepancy would have 90 days to rectify the information. If the differences could not be resolved within that time, the employer would have to fire the staffer or face sanctions, with fines starting at a few hundred dollars.
Breyer issued a preliminary injunction against the new rules, saying the SSA's database used to verify employees' status was flawed and would cost many citizens and legal immigrants their jobs.
The judge also said the Bush administration had not followed correct procedures before issuing the rule and should first have surveyed small businesses to determine the measure's impact.
The Bush administration said it plans to conduct the surveys and issue a revised set of rules by its self-imposed target of March 24.
Administration officials also said that they would continue to mull an appeal of Breyer's Oct. 10 ruling, which has been seen as a potential precursor to outright victory by the coalition of San Francisco area labor groups that sued the government to stop the new no-match rules regarding fines and firings.
The SSA had already said it would not issue any no-match letters until early next year, saying there was not enough time left in 2007 for the agency to rewrite the letters and for businesses to correct inconsistencies.