An unprecedented campaign by the Social Security Administration to purge its files of faulty information is jeopardizing the jobs of thousands of illegal immigrants nationwide, industry officials and immigrant activists say.
Faced with stern notices from the federal agency that employees have submitted questionable Social Security numbers, most employers are telling workers that to save their jobs they must prove they can work legally–an impossible task for undocumented immigrants.
The plight of the undocumented workers reflects one of the worst-kept secrets of the U.S. economy: The labor force relies greatly on immigrants who obtain jobs through phony Social Security numbers.
Now, prodded by the government sweep, many employers who didn’t know or didn’t care that they might have hired undocumented workers are taking action.
Isidro Estefania, 24, an undocumented Mexican immigrant whose fake Social Security card cost him $60, said he and more than a dozen co-workers at a Niles warehouse have been given until mid-June by their employer to produce legitimate cards.
“All of a sudden, we’re in trouble,” said Estefania, who worries about what will happen to his two young children when he loses the health insurance that his job provides.
Although the Social Security Administration has been sending notices about mismatched names and numbers for years, the current mailings are notable because so many companies are receiving alerts for the first time. The agency plans to send letters to about 750,000 employers this year, compared to 110,000 in 2001, asking them to clear up possible discrepancies.
Although the letters sound threatening, the Social Security Administration has no power to punish employers who fail to respond or workers who submit false numbers. And although the Immigration and Naturalization Service can fine an employer if its workers admit they are working illegally, federal regulations prohibit the two agencies from sharing information.
The situation is more evidence of the federal government’s ambivalence in dealing with undocumented immigrants–who already can obtain ID numbers from the Internal Revenue Service to file tax returns, even as the INS tries to prevent them from working here.
Social Security officials say plans for the crackdown predate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and are not motivated by security concerns. But the agency’s independent watchdog, in a report released last month, said one key component of homeland security will be preventing immigrants from using phony Social Security numbers to obtain other documents. “Whatever the cost, whatever the sacrifice, we must protect the number that has become our national identifier,” the report warned.
Even as they blanket employers with letters, Social Security officials have stressed that some mismatches may be due to clerical errors.
The last name of a newly married woman, for example, might not match the name on file. And many Latinos use their mother’s maiden name as a second surname, which might create confusion if the name differs from the one on W-2 forms.
“We tell everybody that these letters make no statement about a person’s immigration status or citizenship status,” agency spokesman Mark Hinkle said.
But in a post-Sept. 11 environment, with employers on edge over the prospect of harboring illegal immigrants, many firms don’t want to take chances, according to immigrant activists and business groups.
The Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, which includes industry groups that back legalizing undocumented workers, has been informing government officials of the “disruption” caused by the letters, said Theresa Cardinal Brown of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Laura Reiff, an immigration attorney and co-chair of the coalition, recently advised a New York bakery that stands to lose about 225 immigrant workers, a quarter of its staff.
“Unfortunately, that is an occurrence being replicated across the country,” she said.
60-day deadline
Business leaders say the agency’s letters, which mention a 60-day deadline to reply, can be especially unclear to small businesses that lack company attorneys.
Workers also are seeking answers. Latinos Progresando, a Chicago social-service agency, reported more mismatch inquiries from workers in March than in a typical year. Erie Neighborhood House, a community group, has advised workers from about 130 Chicago-area companies.
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In extreme examples, advocates say, some companies are breaking the law by summarily firing workers without letting them explain the mismatches. And even before the latest wave of alerts, some unions alleged that companies had used “no-match” letters against workers who organize. Agency officials are encouraging workers to sue if their rights are violated.
Ana Avendano Denier, an attorney for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, said the letters helped break a union of workers who clean a meatpacking plant in Worthington, Minn. Members of the union’s bargaining committee were fired after they could not verify their Social Security numbers, Denier said.
National Service Co. of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, later filed a petition to decertify the union. The union did not fight the petition, Denier said, because it had lost the workers’ support.
Terry Schraeder, a Houston lawyer for National Service, said the company and the union agreed to give members several months to show they had legitimate numbers. After that, the company had the right to fire them, Schraeder said.
Those who support stricter enforcement of immigration law welcome the crackdown.
“These letters serve as a huge deterrent,” said David Ray, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. “If people think they can live the good life as illegal immigrants, there is no incentive to play by the rules.”
But Henry Tamarin, president of Local 1 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees union in Chicago, makes no apologies that a “significant number” of his local’s members do not possess legitimate numbers.
“It is a sad fact that they have to do that, but they make this country,” Tamarin said. “They are working for a living like everyone else.”
Switching jobs
Experts say the Social Security crackdown will not permanently keep undocumented employees out of the workforce. Instead, they envision a musical-chairs situation where workers bounce from job to job.
The net result, immigrant advocates say, is that undocumented workers will have little chance to accumulate seniority or higher wages because they’ll keep switching jobs.
Estefania doesn’t expect his next job to match the nearly $10 an hour he makes as a forklift driver. In fact, he will not be surprised if he has to accept day labor just to make ends meet.
“I have to pay the rent. I have to provide food for my family,” Estefania said. “I’m definitely not going to stop working. That isn’t an option.”