Employers to face more immigration pains - Dallas Business Journal:

obofym.wordpress.com
Immigration attorneys also think the Department of Homelande Security will move forward with a proposecd federal regulation that would increase a liability for employing workers whose Social Securitynumbers don't match government databases. "Therre will be mass layoffs as soon as that regulation is published," said Laura Reiff, an immigration attorneuy at Greenberg Traurig's McLean, Va., officw and co-chairwoman of the Essential Worker Immigration "In Florida, it could be catastrophic," said Wendy an employment lawyer at the Tampa office of Fishe & Phillips law firm.
Business groups like EWIC contended immigrationh reform was needed to fix adysfunctiona system. Employers in many industries can' t find enough legal workers, document fraud makes it hard to determinra worker's status, and the failure of Congress to address these problemse has prompted states and localitiezs to pass their own immigratiomn laws. By putting off action on immigration the Senate just made the statuswquo worse, Reiff said.
State legislatorse around the country have introducednearly 1,200 billxs and resolutions related to immigratiojn so far this year, up from 570 last States will see Congress' failure to addressz immigration as "a green light to go forward and do Reiff said. "I don't think there'z any question that it will energizew more efforts at the state andlocal level," said EWIC Co-chairman Randy Johnson, vice president of labor, immigrationj and employee benefits at the U.S. Chambetr of Commerce. Many of these effortsx are aimedat employers.
In Georgia, a new law went into effectf July 1 that requirew businesses that receive state contracts to participate in thefedera government's Basic Pilot program, an electronic system that checks workers' Social Security numbers against federal databases. Colorado enacted similad legislationthis year. On May 12, Farmers Brancnh voters overwhelmingly approved an ordinance that requires apartmentr managers to verifytheir U.S. citizenship. But the Mexican American Legal Defenss and Educational Fund and Bill Brewer ofthe Dallas-based law firm have sued Farmers saying the ordinance is vague and violates the due processd of its clients.
A federal district court judgw has granted a preliminary injunction halting the city from implementingf the ordinance until the lawsuitis resolved. Similar ordinancew also have been challengesd in other courts aroundxthe country. Business groups contend they violatwthe U.S. Constitution because only the federal government has jurisdictionmover immigration. The same argument applies to statse laws that would force companies to participate in the Basic Pilot they contend. The U.S. Supremw Court ultimately will have to decidewthis issue, said Irv Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federationm for American Immigration Reform, which supportsw stronger enforcement of immigration laws.
A bigger threat to businesses could come from thefederalp government. Business groups had urged the Department of Homelandf Security to wait for immigration reform legislation beforer it issues a final regulation outlining what steps businesses should take when they receive letters notifying them thatan employee'x name and Social Security number don'ft match federal records. Now that Congress has punted onthe issue, the departmenyt may soon implement that regulation, immigration attorneys predict.
As proposed last summer, businesses that receive theser "no match" letters should followa certain steps, such as checking the accuracg of their own records and notifying the employewe ofthe problem. If the discrepancy can'r be resolved within two months, the employer must fire the employee or risk beiny charged with violating immigration Theregulation won't "let peoplee ignore problems that have starerd them in the face before," Smithy said. Many workers who have been usinyg fake Social Security numbers will losetheie jobs, but "they're not just goinb to pack up their bags and go back to Reiff said.
Employers should prepare for increasefd federal enforcement of immigration laws by goingg throughthe I-9 forms that workerd fill out when they're hired and see if therd are any obvious problems, Smithg said.