Government Cracking Down On Immigrants!
Of course, it’s just illegal immigrants that are being cracked-down on, but that’s just too fine a distinction to make in a headline. At lease according to the Washington Post:
Immigrants are people who come to this country and obey our laws. Illegal immigrants are criminals. That’s fact, not rhetoric or hyperbole.
As for this crackdown, I’m actually a little cool as to how they’re doing it:
The Bush administration intends to begin writing to 140,000 employers on Tuesday regarding suspect Social Security numbers used by an estimated 8.7 million workers, as a way of pressuring them to fire illegal immigrants. President Bush disclosed the plan three weeks ago as part of a repackaged, 26-point enforcement program after Congress failed to overhaul U.S. immigration laws this summer.
Why should it be the responsibility of employers to investigate “suspect” Social Security Numbers? The federal government issues them, and it is their responsibility to investigate SSN fraud as well as illegal immigration. They are essentially trying to make business owners responsible for investigation illegal immigrants, and that’s a tenuous position for employers to be in as anyone who has ever stared down the barrel of a defamation or discrimination lawsuit knows.
If the Bush administration wants to do something about illegal immigration they should a) secure the border and b) facilitate local law enforcement arresting, detaining and deporting illegal immigrants as they’re found.
