Don’t Turn Social Security into an Immigration Agency

New America Media, Commentary, Tyler Moran , Posted: Apr 24, 2008

Editor’s Note: An April 25 deadline for feedback on a proposed rule that would turn the no-match letters that the Social Security Administration sends out when social security numbers don’t match up into an immigration tool, is fast approaching. Tyler Moran is Employment Policy Director at the National Immigration Law Center. IMMIGRATION MATTERS regularly features the views of the nation's leading immigrant rights advocates.

On March 26, 2008, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a proposed rule that attempts to turn a Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits program into an immigration enforcement tool. If implemented, the rule will result in tens of thousands of lawful immigrant workers and U.S. citizens losing their jobs and the loss of at least $1 billion dollars to businesses each year.

Each year, SSA sends “no-match letters” to workers and employers when the names or Social Security numbers (SSNs) listed in an employer’s records do not match SSA’s records. The letter’s purpose is to notify workers and employers of the discrepancy and to alert workers that they are not receiving proper credit for their earnings, which can affect future retirement or disability benefits administered by SSA.

The Bush Administration wants to use these letters as evidence that employers knowingly hired undocumented workers. The DHS rule states that if workers named in the letter are unable to correct their Social Security records within a 90-day period, the employer must fire them or risk being prosecuted for violating immigration laws.

The problem is that the letters make no statement regarding a worker’s immigration status. SSA databases that generate no-match letters do not even contain complete or accurate information about workers’ immigration status. And, of the 17.8 million discrepancies in the SSA database that could result in a no-match letter, 12.7 million (or over 70 percent) pertain to native-born U.S. citizens.

There are many reasons why a worker might receive an SSA no-match letter, including errors in SSA’s database, clerical errors made by the employer or worker in completing paperwork after being hired, the fact that the worker might have used a different name convention (such as a hyphenated name or multiple surnames) when applying for a Social Security card than he or she did when applying for a job, and name changes due to marriage, divorce, or when a worker became a naturalized citizen. Many employers, however, will presume that immigrant workers listed on the no-match letter are simply undocumented. This is likely to result in greater discrimination against immigrants.

If the rule is implemented, tens of thousands of workers will be fired and businesses will lose at least $1 billion dollars per year. In its economic analysis of the proposed rule for DHS, Econometrica, Inc., estimated that up to 3.9 million employment authorized and U.S. citizen workers will receive no-match letters and need to physically go to an SSA office to correct their records. Of those, up to 70,781 workers will be fired because of their inability to resolve the discrepancy within the specified time period in the proposed rule. Richard B. Belzer, Ph.D., an economist hired by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, predicts much more dire consequences. In his comments to the DHS, he estimates that the total number of authorized workers who will be fired because of their inability to resolve the no-match could be as high as 165,000. He also estimates that the aggregate cost to employers will range from $1 billion to $1.6 billion per year.

This is an ill-conceived policy that is bad for workers, employers that play by the rules, and the country’s failing economy.

The deadline for comments on the proposed rule is April 25, 2008. Make your voice heard about the impact this rule will have on immigrants, refugees, and many workers of color. We need to generate as many comments as we can to demonstrate broad opposition to the rule. Several model comments for workers, organizations and businesses are posted on the Low-Wage Immigrant Worker Coalition website here.

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