Judge blocks Government crackdown on illegals

U.S. District Court Judge Maxine Chesney issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Social Security Adminstration from issuing "no match" letters to employers whose employees names do not match numbers entered into the agency's database. The ruling came two days after a coalition of labor and immigrant rights groups sued the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security claiming the policy would harm legal U.S. residents and law-abiding businesses according to reports.

The plaintiffs allege that of the 17.8 million datbase discrepancies found in a 2006 report by the Social Security Administration's office of the Inspector General, more than 70% involved native-born U.S. citizens. The plaintiffs argued that the SSA's database is fraught with clerical errors complicated by name changes and different naming conventions such as the use of multiple surnames as are common in both Asain and Hispanic families.

Attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security were disappointed by the Judge's ruling but remain hopeful. Spokeswoman for DHS Laura Keehner told the AP, "We are disappointed by the delay and expect to prevail once the court has the benefit of full briefings and arguments." In a related development, attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security are scheduled to appear before District Judge Charles Breyer on October 1st to argue against a request for a permanent injunction that would prohibit the implemention of the "no-match" program. According to the AP "no-match" notices were to have been sent out as early as Tuesday to 140,000 employers with at least 10 workers whose names and Social Security numbers do not match entries in the administration's database.

While Judge Chesney did not rule out the merits of the case she wrote that arguments raised by the plaintiffs, "raised serious questions as to whether the new Department of Homeland Security rule is inconsistent with statute." She added, "The balance of harms tips sharply in favor of a stay based on plaintiffs' showing that they and their members would suffer irreparable harm if the rule is implemented"

If the objections raised by the plaintiffs in this case turn out to be true it only means that the SSA and DHS need to refine their methodolgy not scuttle the entire program as the open borders crowd would like.

It will be interesting to see how this story develops in the coming weeks. Both Judge Chesney and Breyer were appointed to their posts by former President William Jefferson Clinton. Given the sort of predictable, knee-jerk reaction liberal rulings that other Clinton appointees have rendered in the past, we may be in for a tour of the appelate court system before this entire matter is adequately resolved.

The AP posts their article here and the L.A. Times here on the ruling.