Agricultural Personnel Management Program
University of California

Pressure on immigrant workers illegally in this country and on their employers is mounting, but this time the heat is coming from the Social Security Administration, not the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Starting in April, Social Security stepped up its program of notifying employers when there is a problem matching employee names with Social Security numbers.

The no-match letters point out discrepancies and ask that they be rectified within 60 days.

Regional INS officials - frustrated in past efforts to use Social Security numbers to crack down on undocumented workers and those who employ them - cheer the Social Security Administration's effort.

Those demanding an aggressive effort to expel an estimated 8 million people illegally in the United States also are delighted.

"It makes sense going through the Social Security records and weeding out those with bogus numbers," said David Ray, spokesman for the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, which advocates stricter immigration policy and enforcement.

Immigration advocates, however, say the letters unintentionally have prompted workers confronted with discrepancies to leave their jobs and some employers to dismiss them. Legal immigrants and U.S. citizens, particularly Latinos who follow the tradition of using both paternal and maternal last names, also have been adversely affected, they say.

"The impact on immigrant communities and on the undocumented worker, in particular, has been dramatic," said Ed Leahy of the Iowa-Nebraska Immigrant Rights Network.

Operation Vanguard drew national attention when, beginning in 1998, it targeted the Nebraska meatpacking industry for an examination of employment files as a way to identify workers with false documents. It ended after political leaders, employers and Latino groups objected.

Social Security's no-match notification effort began in 1994.

Last year, about 110,000 letters went out. This year, an estimated 750,000 no-match letters will go out, hitting many more employers and workers.

The decision to step up the program was made in May 2001 and was not a response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, said John Garlinger, communications director for the Kansas City, Mo., regional Social Security office.

"This is not about immigration," Garlinger said. "We are trying to make sure people get the right benefits."

Other evidence of this effort regularly appears in mailboxes, when workers get written records of their work histories and estimates of their benefits.

There are a number of legitimate reasons why a person's name and number might not match. Among them are typographical errors by an employer and women failing to notify of name changes after marriage.

Social Security receives billions of dollars every year that it cannot match with individual accounts. In 1998, Social Security could not account for $32.4 billion in earnings that could not be attached to valid names that matched valid Social Security numbers.

No one knows what proportion of that is from workers in the country illegally. Undocumented workers using false Social Security numbers pay into the fund, as do their employers, but they are not entitled to benefits.

Marielena Hincapie, an attorney with the National Immigration Law Center in Oakland, Calif., said Latinos and Asians in that state have been fired - regardless of whether they are in the country legally - because of the Social Security letters.

Locally, attorney Vard Johnson of Omaha said the Social Security letters have created confusion and concern among Omaha-area employers.

"The volume is quite dramatic," said Johnson, who noted that the expanded program is hitting most employers for the first time.

Jerry Heinauer, the Nebraska-Iowa district INS director, applauded the Social Security Administration's actions.

"This should send a signal that it is not worth the risk to come to this country illegally, pay a smuggler to get you over the border and buy fake documents," Heinauer said. "I think it's beneficial to the country."