The Bush administration’s increased repression against undocumented immigrant workers has hit another obstacle. On Oct. 10, federal judge Charles R. Breyer ordered a halt to the implementation of a new rule that forces employers to fire an employee 90 days after receiving a “no match” letter from the Social Security Administration.
Breyer ordered the halt until the Northern District of California can make a final decision in a lawsuit brought by the AFL-CIO and other organizations.
Breyer expressed skepticism about the rule. He stated that the law could result in “irreparable harm to innocent workers and employers.”
According to a December 2006 report cited in the lawsuit, the SSA estimated that 17.8 million of its 435 million individual records contain discrepancies that could result in a no match letter being sent to a documented worker. Around 12.7 million of those records with errors belong to U.S. born workers.
This temporary legal victory is a welcome development. What is needed, however, is a sustained movement demanding legalization for all undocumented people. The immigrant rights upsurge in 2006 showed that this can happen.
