I had to check that I wasn’t reading The Onion as I read this. Are they kidding? Wouldn’t there be complaints if the companies did nothing and were cited by the feds for ignoring the bad SS numbers/names issue?
Immigrant rights group calls for boycott
“The social security administration says it plans to send out 8 million no match letters,” said Martino Unzuerta, Chicago Workers Collaborative.
The initial purpose of the social security administration’s ‘no match’ letter was to credit workers unclaimed social security earnings. The agency routinely sends out ‘no match’ letters to a company when employees’ names and social security numbers don’t match possibly because of a spelling error, omission of information or a unreported name change. But immigration activists say some employers are now aggressively using the letters to fire immigrant workers.
[...]
Groups accuse several companies of the practice using ‘no match’ letters to immigrant workers who don’t have valid social security numbers. They want the public to boycott businesses, including Applebee’s and Dunkin Donuts. Neither company could be reached for comment.
#16
Yes, it’s one of the oldest tricks in the book… get people worked up over some minor-but-in-the-face issue, and they’ll forget about bigger issues.
You miss the point. It’s a canard when they say that illegal immigrants do the work that Americans won’t do. What is actually happening is that illegal immigrants take jobs from Americans because employers would rather pay less for the same labor. Your jobs are being outsourced but instead of the factory, cannery or company moving out, they are staying here, firing you and hiring illegals for half the cost. You think Americans don’t want to be roofers, carpenters, masons, landscapers? Hardly, just try to get a living wage doing those jobs these days. If you have a company you are being pressured out of business by the businesses using cheaper illegal labor. Republicans don’t want to stop this because they aren’t Reagan Republicans anymore, they pretend to be but they are really Rockefeller Republicans in disguise – owned by big business and simply pretending to care for the ‘conservative’ causes to get elected. This is why most Republicans, most Americans want border control and a stop to illegal immigration but nothing gets done about it – business interests outvote you. Democrats think that illegals and hispanics are part of their voting block so they don’t want to stop illegal immigration either. So, the majority of Americans want control over the borders, an end to illegal immigration but won’t get it. Welcome to America.
You’re right, I don’t have a link. That number sounds outlandish to me as well, but that’s how I remembered it. Doing a quick google search, I lucked out and found the source. Turns out it’s 10 percent of the surplus.
http://tinyurl.com/p5vrn
By the way it’s the third link when you search for Social Security illegal immigrants on Google
#23/24 – thats good info, I now stand corrected… article does raise a few good points though – “…they might claim Social Security benefits and put further financial stress on the system.”
Well I’d guess theres no easy solution to the issue, and the hard solutions arent going to be popular at all either…
You guys do know that the Feds have a program that allows illegals to work under a *tax* number. They obtain the number from the Feds, use the letter saying they have the number, the employer legally applies their taxes to that number. When the illegal becomes of retirement age, they use the number to get retirement benefits. No names are ever used. I personally know 8 or 9 illegals that use the system. It’s legal and it’s real. Most illegals either don’t know about it or are afraid it’s a trap to catch them and deport them.
Ok….I have to get the name of the program.
Ok….here’s the name of the program and the link to the IRS site that tells you all about it…..unbelivable. Several groups are accusing the IRS of breaking Immigration law with this program.
It’s called….*Individual Identification Tax Number* or ITIN.
http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96287,00.html
Enjoy reading your goverment at work (undermining the security and welfare of the U.S.)
#23, AB CD,
In 2002 alone, the last year with figures released by the Social Security Administration, nine million W-2′s with incorrect Social Security numbers landed in the suspense file, accounting for $56 billion in earnings, or about 1.5 percent of total reported wages.
So how does 1.5% of those at the bottom of the wage scale account for 5-10% of Social Security? That was a nice article, but it did not define it’s numbers.
Did you expect someone else to do your work for you and find some information?
#27, joshua
This program is not for illegals to gain a number. Its intent is for those who do not qualify for an SSN but must file an income tax form. This includes immigrants that have not received their green card yet but do have an Immigration Status Number and guest workers including H1Bs,
The IRS site specifically says their tax number is not for employment purposes.
Are ITINs valid for work purposes?
No. ITINs are for federal income tax purposes only.
Details, details; what really irks me is the link takes you to a really nasty pop-up thing with some bimbo on your screen trying to sell something. There was no way to shut her up so I bailed, never did get a chance to read the article.
#30: Turn down the volume?
28, Sorry if I wasn’t clear, I meant that to be a correction. It was 10% of the surplus, at 7 billion, which is 1.5% if SS spending is 400 billion.
Uncle Dave, just exactly how do you turn down the volume on a video that’s covering up the text you want to read? And besides, the bitch was ugly.
Omar, move your cursor over her and a menu bar comes up with a close button.
I am not going to boycott companies who fire people who are essentially committing identity theft in order to get a job. They should have never been hired in the first place. I’m all for civil, human, and even immigrant rights, but this situation doesn’t fall into any of those categories. It pisses me off that these people think I should be OK with someone steeling S.S. #s to get a job, and then branding it racism when the feds bust people who are using these S.S.#’s which is, at the very least, fraud. I’m assuming these would be stolen numbers as they would have to be valid in order to work with the system.
Boycott companies for responding appropriately to cases where a Social Security number was stolen and may be putting the rightful owner through financial ruin! These people have to be insane to think that everyone will go along with this!
See the following story to see what can happen to you if your SS number is stolen! Think the government will help you straighten out this mess? Think again!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6814673/
“MSNBC.com research and government reports suggest hundreds of thousands of American citizens are in the same spot — unknowingly lending their identity to illegal immigrants so they can work. And while several government agencies and private corporations sometimes know whose Social Security numbers are being ripped off, they won’t notify the victims. That is, until they come after the victims for back taxes or unpaid loans owed by the imposter.”
Steve
Yeah, I work for an applebees now and have worked at TGI Fridays as a manger – we had to verify SS#s with the SSA before step 2 of the hiring process after we lost half our employees one day when the social security office let us know that 17 african immigrants were all sharing one ss#!
Its true – immigrants are not doing the jobs american’s dont want…. They have just made those jobs so low-paying that most can’t live off it… Even 2 people making $8/hour 40hrs a week is not enough to live better than the trailer park or a dumpy 1 bedroom apartment in cracktown….I used to make a great living as a cook at fridays, making almost $20 an hour! After the african illegals came in, suddenly they lost intest in paying one guy that when they could pay 4 cooks $5 / hour!
Remember when you eat somewhere with the illegals working there. Most of these guys have the equivilant of a 3rd grade education – they generally dont even grasp the concept of washing themselves, let alone do they understand the neccesary things about food safety – i watch these africans grab a handful of raw fish, then grab a handful of french fries and put them on your plate without washing their hands ever! Their idea of brushing their gnarled rotten teeth is rubbing a finger on them with some water!
I personally avoid casual dining restaurants like the plague – filled with uneducated ignorant illegals who are just waiting to fill you with food poisining! Your safer at fast food – less handling of the food and you can SEE them make it. Dont ever trust a restaurant with a closed kitchen, I have worked at 10-15 different restaurants over the past 20 years and the vast majority of them are filthy cochroach infested hellholes (and these are all big name chains too! this isnt bobs family diner)