美国国家公共电台 NPR The Latest Immigration Crackdown May Be Fake Social Security Numbers

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Some other news now - the U.S. government is reviving an old tactic¹ against employers who hire workers in the United States illegally. It takes advantage of a basic fact. When you're hired, your employer asks for a Social Security number. And the Social Security Administration is telling employers when it questions an employee's number. NPR's Joel Rose reports.

JOEL ROSE, BYLINE²: It sounds pretty innocuous. The Social Security Administration plans to start sending letters to businesses across the country notifying them when an employee's Social Security number doesn't match up with official records. But these no-match letters, as they're called, are expected to set off alarm bells. That's what happened when they arrived in the mail back in the mid-2000s.

JULIE PACE: It was a scare tactic.

ROSE: Julie Pace is a lawyer in Arizona. Back then, as now, the federal government was trying to crack down on unauthorized workers. Pace understood the need to keep accurate records, but she thinks these letters were also intended to threaten employers who might have undocumented workers on the payroll³.

PACE: They were scary. And they were very old-school, formal government letter that scared you - the way it was typed, the font on it.

ROSE: There are a lot of reasons why someone's Social Security number might not match - name changes or clerical errors, for example. But it can also mean that a worker is using a fake Social Security number. And when an employer gets one of these letters, they have to ask the worker to fix the problem.

GARY GITLIN: It's the federal government who is now questioning something. And we're being the delivery boy, so to speak, in giving the message.

ROSE: Gary Gitlin was a lawyer for Pro's Ranch⁴ Market, a chain of grocery stores in Arizona. Gitlin says he got lots of no-match letters.

GITLIN: We had to let a lot of people go because either they were not able to reconcile the no-match or simply refused to deal with it.

ROSE: Labor⁵ unions and immigrant advocates took the issue to court. The U.S. Chamber⁶ of Commerce complained that the government was trying to turn businesses into, quote, "immigration cops," unquote. Eventually, the Obama administration stopped sending these letters in 2012. Now they're back, and so is the controversy⁷. Marielena Hincapie directs the National Immigration Law Center.

MARIELENA HINCAPIE: This is part and parcel of an anti-immigrant agenda by the Trump⁸ administration. This fits squarely within its overall strategy of instilling⁹ fear and chaos¹⁰ among immigrant workers.

ROSE: The Social Security Administration gave us a written statement. The agency says it's indeed trying to improve the accuracy of its records - which makes sense because the bean counters want to be sure that when you retire, you get the right amount of money. The statement doesn't say anything about immigration, and the agency declined our request for an interview. Immigration hard-liners, though, say they are glad to see no-match letters return.

DAN STEIN: If an employee is using a stolen Social Security number, we think it's important for relevant people to know.

ROSE: Dan Stein is president of the Federation¹¹ for American Immigration Reform, which advocates for lower levels of immigration. Stein says he has no sympathy for undocumented immigrants who are using fake Social Security numbers to work or for employers who've been looking the other way.

STEIN: Illegal immigration is ultimately everybody's problem. And one of the reasons why we've seen it blow out of control in the last 30-some years is because employers have not been willing to do their fair share in ensuring that American jobs go to American workers.

ROSE: But employers say it's not their job to enforce immigration laws. And lawyer Julie Pace says no-match letters put them in a classic Catch-22.

PACE: It's a very fine line for employers to walk and not get in trouble on either side of the line.

ROSE: When no-match letters went out before, Pace says she asked for guidance from immigration authorities and from Justice Department lawyers and got two different answers. Immigration authorities said employers should look at these letters as evidence that their employees are undocumented. But the Justice Department said - not so fast - if you fire a worker based just on this letter, that could be discrimination.

PACE: There were times where employers just were firing people because of those letters. And sometimes, I would get both agencies on the phone at once so they could try to get on the same page with direction on that because they gave different direction from each agency.

ROSE: This time around, the Social Security Administration has changed the wording on no-match letters to clearly say this is not about immigration. Still, Pace has a feeling that some employers will overreact anyway. She's seen it happen before.

Joel Rose, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF STAN FOREBEE'S "REFLECTIONS")

1 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

4 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

7 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

8 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

9 instilling   

v.逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instil的现在分词 )；逐渐使某人获得（某种可取的品质），逐步灌输( instill的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Make sure your subordinates understand your sense of urgency and work toward instilling this in allsubordinates. 确保你的下属同样具备判断紧急事件的意识，在工作中潜移默化地灌输给他们。 来自互联网

10 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

11 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。