This is an interesting turnaround in the Bush administration's attempt to punish workers with suspect ID's as well as their employers. The US District judge in San Francisco sees the administration's use of Social Security numbers in the crackdown as far too scattershot. He warned of "the plan's potentially 'staggering' impact on law-abiding workers and companies."
Issuing a firm rebuke of the White House, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer of San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction against the government's plan to pressure employers to fire up to 8.7 million workers with suspect Social Security numbers starting this fall.
President Bush made that plan the centerpiece of a re-energized enforcement effort against illegal immigration after the Senate rejected his proposed legislation to overhaul immigration laws this summer. But the ruling -- made at the behest of major American labor, business and farm organizations -- highlighted the chasm that the immigration fight has opened between the Republican Party and its traditional business allies.
The plaintiffs in the case were an interesting group not often seen working together: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union.
The plaintiffs persuaded the judge that the Social Security database was plagued by so many errors that its use in firings would unfairly discriminate against tens of thousands of legal workers and cause sweeping workforce disruptions that would burden companies.
