Delay sought in immigration rules

A broad-based coalition of business associations wants the Bush administration to delay its recently announced crackdown on illegal immigration until a list of questions can be answered.

But Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that enforces immigration laws, says employers have had notice the new Social Security guidelines were coming for more than a year, and the guidelines are simply a clarification of existing law.

"The only thing employers are losing is the right to say, 'I didn't know,"' said Pat Reilly, spokeswoman for ICE.

The new regulations, which take effect Sept. 14, give employers specific guidelines to follow when they receive letters from the Social Security Administration indicating a mismatch between a worker's name and Social Security number. If, after 93 days, those issues aren't resolved, employers must terminate the employee or face liability for knowingly employing an unauthorized worker, according to ICE.

"As every day passes, there is growing confusion as to how to comply with the rule and the practical implementation," the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Social Security Administration Commissioner Michael J. Astrue on Monday.

However, Veronica Nur Valdes, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, described the guidelines as "straightforward" and giving employers ample time to resolve any issues.

"This is not a new law," Valdes said. "In the past there has been a lot of ambiguity with regards to this no-match letter. ... We are making it abundantly clear to employers what they should do, and we are enforcing our laws."

The coalition letter was signed by several associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Hotel & Lodging Association and the National Chicken Council. It said the new guidelines will create overwhelming paperwork for employers and have the potential to foster anti-Latino discrimination.

"The regulation also jeopardizes vital U.S. industries and the economy as a whole by needlessly creating uncertainties, disruptions, dislocations throughout broad swaths of the work force," the letter says.

The 86 questions issued Monday by the coalition ask about issues such as whether employers would be shielded from discrimination lawsuits after terminating an employee who can't provide proper paperwork.

Reilly characterized the new regulations as "giving this person every opportunity" to prove work eligibility. "You cannot be criminally charged for upholding the law," she said.