October 10, 2007

District Judge Charles Breyer blocks DHS no-match letters (ACLU, CofC, AFL-CIO)

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post offers "Judge Bars Bush Crackdown on Illegal Workers" (link):

A federal judge barred the Bush administration today from launching a planned crackdown on U.S. firms that hire illegal immigrants, warning of the plan's potentially "staggering" impact on law-abiding workers and companies.

Issuing a firm rebuke of the White House, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer of San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction against the government's plan to pressure employers to fire up to 8.7 million workers with suspect Social Security numbers starting this fall.

...Breyer said the plaintiffs, an unusual coalition that included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union, had raised such serious questions about the plan to mail Social Security "no-match" letters to 140,000 U.S. employers that it should be blocked from proceeding.

It's not that "unusual": such groups have been allied in their support for illegal activity for a long time. Note of course that this is being portrayed as a defeat for Bush, when he, the WaPo, and those who brought the suit are on the same side.

..."The government's proposal to disseminate no-match letters affecting more than eight million workers will, under the mandated time line, result in the termination of employment to lawfully employed workers," the judge wrote. "Moreover the threat of criminal prosecution . . . reflects a major change in DHS [Department of Homeland Security] policy."

The previous "policy" was to refuse to enforce the laws on the books. When they make a half-hearted attempt at enforcing the laws, corrupt businesses and far-left "civil rights" groups - together with a Clinton-appointed judge (fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=2719) - can't even let that happen. This will apparently be appealed, but if you'd like to do something more effective in the meantime, I suggest discrediting those who support illegal immigration.

Posted to Immigration2007b at October 10, 2007 01:29 PM