The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 69/No. 26           July 11, 2005  
 
 
U.S. gov’t backs off fining employers
for hiring undocumented workers
 
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS  
Congress and a number of U.S. states have recently passed new bills restricting the rights of undocumented immigrants—over driver’s licenses, health care, and other public programs. At the same time, the federal government in the last six years has essentially stopped imposing fines on employers who hire immigrant workers lacking residency documents in order to meet the bosses’ thirst for profits through cheap labor.

Richard Stana, director of homeland security and justice at the Government Accountability Office, recently told a House of Representatives subcommittee that the number of notices of intent to fine employers for knowingly hiring “unauthorized” workers fell from 417 in 1999 to three last year.

In addition to the law banning the employment of undocumented immigrants, a computerized pilot program is available for employers to verify workers’ Social Security numbers. Last year 2,300 of the 5.6 million employers in the United States used this federal program, according to a Reuters news dispatch.

“On the other side of the debate are the industries that benefit from millions of low wage workers,” the news agency reported. This is the case regardless of whether working people are U.S. born, “legal” immigrants, or undocumented workers.  
 
 
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