SALINAS CALIFORNIAN

August 15, 2007

Locals brace for crackdown on hiring undocumented immigrants

By SUNITA VIJAYAN
The Salinas Californian

A crackdown on undocumented workers by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security could cost some Monterey County industries much of their labor pool.

On Sept. 4, "Safe Harbor" regulations will take effect, levying fines of up to $10,000 against employers whose Social Security numbers don't match their names.

Prior to the new regulations, employers did not have to follow up after receiving notice of a discrepancy from the Social Security Administration, sent whenever a worker's number doesn't match up with their own records.

"Employers were not very free to terminate people before," said Joanne Haag, a Monterey-based immigration attorney Monday after-noon. "Now, employers are kind of between a rock and a hard place."

On Monday night, more than 40 people attended a town hall meeting at the Firehouse Recreation Center, 1330 E. Alisal St., in Salinas, hosted by U.S. Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel.

Farr briefly explained the new ruling to the audience and some of its potential repercussions in the region.

"I think it's really going to hurt the (Salinas) Valley," he said. "A lot of people (here) are undocumented workers who are paying their taxes and aren't breaking the law. Now, their lives are going to be threatened."

Some in the Salinas Valley agricultural industry, who support comprehensive immigration reforms, said the new imposition by the Department of Homeland Security will not work as a long-term solution.

New ruling not ‘smart’

"Employers are not hiring undocumented workers because they want an illegal workforce; it's because Congress has failed to provide access to a legal workforce," said Jim Bogart, president and general counsel of the Salinas-based Grower-Shipper Association of Central California. "Enforcement initiatives must be tough and smart, and I don't think this is smart."

Bogart said he issued a bulletin to the association's members Monday and will soon organize workshops and seminars to educate them on the new rules.

Calls to several Monterey County hotels were not returned Monday afternoon.
The announcement, the Department of Homeland Security has said, comes in response to the Senate killing an immigration bill in June that would have toughened border security and instituted a new system for weeding out illegal immigrants from workplaces. It would have created a new guest worker program and allowed millions of illegal immigrants to obtain legal status if they briefly returned home.

Upon receiving notice of a Social Security number discrepancy, employers will have 90 days to check their records and notify the worker to fix any mistakes.

Ag, construction, hospitality at risk

Haag said she's concerned workers may lose jobs be-cause of misspelled names or a recent marriage.

"There's going to be a lot of chaotic consequences for employers who are going to feel beseeched and a lot of employees are going to lose their jobs, whether rightfully or wrongly," she said. "I think a lot of industries are going to suffer, especially those in agriculture, construction, and hospitality."

Joe Pezzini, vice president of operations for Ocean Mist Farms in Castroville, said while employers need a system to determine which workers are using fraudulent Social Security numbers in getting a job, it's too early to say how this ruling will affect the agricultural industry.

"We're just going to follow the law as we've always done," Pezzini said.