(Published Sunday, September 9, 2007 11:59:11 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Mike Heine/Gazette Staff
Local employers may feel the wrath of the federal government if they don't fire employees whose name and Social Security number don't match those in the federal database.
New regulations set forth last month by the Department of Homeland Security go into effect Monday, and companies will start receiving "no match" letters.
The laws already were on the books, but the department is getting serious about enforcement.
"We're going to continue to clamp down on employers who knowingly and willfully violate the laws," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a press conference Aug. 10 announcing the new enforcement. "But at the same time, we want to make sure that employers who do want to do the right thing have effective tools and clear guidance so they can maintain a stable, legal workforce."
It could have consequences on the local economy.
Labor shortage
Russ Kashian, UW-Whitewater associate professor of economics, said the stepped-up enforcement is a reaction to Congress not passing immigration reform. He said it's not the best answer.
"I have no problem enforcing the law. If people are here illegally, then they're here illegally. That's reality," Kashian said.
"If we don't put into place a credible worker visa program, we're going to have shortages of labor. If we don't have enough people looking for work in all areas to fill these jobs, jobs are going to go unfilled, and we're going to have shortages," Kashian said.
"That's a problem."
Unemployment numbers won't rise because the people aren't documented, Kashian said. But they will become a part of an unemployed society.
"There will be people who live in the U.S., who live in Walworth County, who are undocumented and unemployed. This will cause stress on the social systems of Walworth County," Kashian said. "They're not going to disappear. People get sick. People need food. Social services will be called into play."
Kashian did not know how many immigrant workers there are in southeastern Wisconsin. Workers typically are drawn here because of the area's tourism, agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
"What I anticipate will happen is wages will go up and it will lead to inflation," Kashian said. "It's hard enough to find good employees now. If you pull people out of the pool, you have to pay remaining workers even more."
The costs likely will be passed onto consumers, said Fred Burkhardt, executive director of the Walworth County Economic Development Alliance.
"If we have to jump from a base level of minimum wage up to $7 to $10 per hour, get ready to pay more when you have dinner or a stay in a hotel," Burkhardt said. "Somebody is going to pay for that increase in cost."
Immigrants valued
The immigrant workforce in Walworth County is hard-working and dependable, said an office manager at a Lake Geneva landscaping company. She wished not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.
"Year after year, we've had the same Hispanic workers," she said. "About 90 percent come back every year, whereas on the flip side, some of the white employees might not even last a day.
"I'd prefer to have a Hispanic worker with no problem getting grungy and dirty ... and coming back every year than a Caucasian that seems to think they can goof off and not do the work. It seems (whites) have a misconception of what a landscape laborer really is. When they find out what the job truly entails, they're gone."
Attorney Frank Lettenberger, who once represented a Whitewater business owner charged with identity theft for hiring workers who used false or stolen Social Security numbers, said the rules could decimate the workforce in southern Wisconsin if employers abide by the regulations.
"My assumption is a majority of employers are not going to follow through because they have long-term relationships with a lot of these employees," he said. "They are valued employees and will not find anybody to replace them."
Throwing away a no-match letter from the federal government, however, could lead to fines and a felony conviction resulting in prison, Chertoff said.
"By the end of the day, the enforcement of the law is going to have some consequences," Chertoff said.
Selective discrimination?
The change in enforcement may not have a big impact on companies that use seasonal employees, said David E. Smith, superintendent of Abbey Springs Golf Course in Fontana.
If employers have 30 days to respond to a federal inquiry, and if an employee gets 90 days more, that's enough time for summer help to finish a job done before they have to be fired, he said.
"They're creating a law that doesn't have the teeth they think it's going to have," Smith said.
"What I really think will happen, now, is rampant discrimination against anybody with a Hispanic background," Smith said.
Employers are not supposed to selectively check backgrounds of employees.
Employers must check everyone or no one, otherwise they open themselves to discrimination lawsuits, Lettenberger said.
Along with the new regulations, the government is revamping its way to check the status of employees online.
A program called E-Verify compares information from I-9 employment forms against 425 million records in the Social Security database and 60 million in Homeland Security's immigration database, Chertoff said.
Use of the program, however, is voluntary.
Kashian said the solution is to allow more temporary workers and to give them time to gain citizenship.
"People confuse amnesty with worker visas with illegal immigrants. You can do worker visas without giving amnesty," he said. "But there aren't enough visas to cover the people that are here now, and we're reducing the number."
