Bush Moves To Step Up Immigration Enforcement

Federal prosecutors have occasionally used an employer's disregard of no-match letters as evidence that he or she knowingly hired illegal immigrants -- a violation of federal law. But until now, employers were given few guidelines as to how to respond to the notices and have frequently ignored them.

The new regulations -- which will take effect next month -- offer employers "safe harbor" from prosecution if they require their employee to resolve the no-match discrepancy within 90 days -- for instance, by contacting the appropriate government agency to correct mistaken records. If the worker is unable to do so, the employer must terminate the worker or face criminal liability.

The Social Security Administration does not alert immigration authorities when it sends out no-match letters, so the new regulations are unlikely to trigger a sudden wave of prosecutions.

But Randel Johnson of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said most employers are unlikely to consider such nuances -- particularly in light of the increased civil penalties and recently stepped-up enforcement of immigration law.

Immigration authorities have increased criminal arrests of both employers and employees from 24 in fiscal 1999 to 716 in 2006. And they appear on track to double that number this year.

"Look, employers are going to want to protect themselves, so, de facto nearly all employers are going to follow the new rules," Johnson said. "And that is going to have a serious impact in certain industries."

Kathleen Walker, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said she is worried that employers may open themselves to civil rights lawsuits when they fire a legal worker who is unable to resolve his case within 90 days.

"Even if you're a legal worker, good luck trying to get an appointment with the Social Security Administration in time, let alone resolving your case," she said. "And then the employer gets put between the proverbial rock and the hard place."

She and others also questioned the effectiveness of an existing computer program to check employment eligibility that the administration will expand and give a new name, E-Verify.

The program -- which matches information for employees with more than 425 million Social Security records and 60 million homeland security records -- now is used by 19,000 employers.

Under the new plan announced by Chertoff, the government would initiate a rulemaking process to require federal contractors and vendors -- about 200,000 companies -- to use it.

Walker said E-Verify does not include a complete array of immigration records and has a substantial error rate.

Others criticized the administration's attempt to eliminate delays in obtaining approval for seasonal agricultural and low-skilled non-agricultural workers under two existing guest-worker programs.

"There is not an administrative solution, and tinkering with the regulations is not going to solve the problem," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), co-sponsor with Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) of a bill that would overhaul the nation's agricultural jobs sector. "The administration's approach is a Band-Aid that will not stop the looming crisis American agriculture will face this fall. The crisis is that crops will not be harvested."

Staff writers Anne E. Kornblut, Karin Brulliard and Spencer S. Hsu and political researcher Zachary A. Goldfarb contributed to this report.