Employers worry about crackdown on illegal workers

Congress had failed to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Farmers and other employers who rely heavily on immigrant labor said Friday that they could be driven out of business by the Bush administration’s plans to crack down on workers whose Social Security numbers do not match their names, and businesses that hire them.

Administration officials said the stepped-up enforcement would begin in 30 days.

“Everyone’s very anxious,” said Paul Schlegel, director of public policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation. “We’re heading into the busiest time of the year for agriculture, so you’re going to see a lot of worry from farmers and employers about how you deal with this.”

The industry group, which represents 75 percent of U.S. farmers, estimates at least half the nation’s 1 million farm workers do not have valid Social Security numbers. Losing them would devastate the industry, particularly fruit and vegetable growers, which rely heavily on manual labor, farmers said.

Other businesses that count on large numbers of illegal workers include construction, janitorial and landscaping companies, and hotels and restaurants.

What’s behind this

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said they were forced to beef up enforcement of current laws after Congress failed to pass a comprehensive immigration-reform bill.

“We’re going as far as we possibly can without Congress acting,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Among other things, employers will now be required to fire employees who are unable to clear up problems with their Social Security numbers within 90 days after being notified. Employers who fail to comply could face criminal penalties.

Recognizing the crackdown could hurt some industries, particularly agriculture, Gutierrez said the Labor Department will try to make temporary worker programs easier to use and more efficient.

Chertoff also said he will try to use the department’s regulatory authority to raise fines on employers by about 25 percent. Current fines are so modest that some companies consider them a cost of doing business, the agency said.

“It’ll just shut us down,” said Manuel Cunha, a citrus grower who heads the Nisei Farmers League, a farming group in California’s San Joaquin Valley, the nation’s most productive region for fruits and vegetables. “It’ll just be over if they start coming in here and busting employers. The food chain would fall apart.”

Here’s the problem

Illegal immigrants often give made-up numbers when applying for jobs, though honest mistakes such as the misspelling of a name can also cause problems. Employers say it can take weeks to clear up discrepancies.

“This the stupidest thing our government could do,” Cunha said. “They’re worried about terrorists, but I’ve never heard of a farmworker walking across the Arizona desert with a nuke strapped across his back.”

Bill Hammond, a member of the Texas Employers for Immigration Reform and the Texas Association of Business, predicted the enforcement would hurt his state’s agricultural, hotel and restaurant industries.

“We are deeply disappointed in the administration’s decision to punish the American economy because Congress has failed to act,” said Hammond, whose group is considered a Republican ally.