Judge Delays Ruling on Illegal Workers

A federal judge in San Francisco yesterday delayed for 10 days a ruling on the legality of the Bush administration's enforcement drive targeting U.S. firms that hire illegal immigrants.

The order by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer came after he listened to two hours of arguments over whether the federal government's effort will unfairly burden small businesses and ensnare tens of thousands of legal U.S. workers. The AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union sued the government in August, and they were later joined by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several business trade associations.

Breyer's action keeps in place a temporary restraining order preventing the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration from beginning to mail notices to 140,000 U.S. employers about suspect Social Security numbers used by more than 8 million workers.

The "no match" letters warn employers to resolve questions about their employees' identities or fire them within 90 days. If employers do nothing, the letters warn, they may face fines and criminal penalties for violating a federal law that bars knowingly employing illegal workers.