Bennie Boop
By David Tatosian (11/30/06)
Rep. Bennie Thompson’s recent warning to Cintas Corp, that "it could be charged with 'illegal activities in violation of state and federal law' if any of its 32,000 employees are terminated because they gave incorrect Social Security numbers to be hired", is more than a little unnerving.
Are we to assume that the future Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee is unaware that the procurment and use of a false Social Security Card is a criminal offense?
The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 makes it illegal to “willfully, knowingly, and with intent, deceive the Commissioner of Social Security as to his true identity (or the true identity of any other person)” and stipulates that “Violators of this provision, Section 208(a)(6) of the Social Security Act, shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both”
I’m sure Thompson’s aware that the “no match” letters themselves are not grounds for immediate termination, but an indication that worker and number don’t match, and that the issue must be resolved.
He must be equally aware that Cintas Corp., by not terminating any of the employees with suspect Social Security Cards, and affording those individuals the opportunity to resolve the descrepancy, has remained well within the parameters of existing statutes.
Mr. Thompson accuses Cintas of acting on newly proposed DHS regulations (yet to be signed into law and designed to reduce the hiring of illegal aliens), and states “by implementing “this incomplete regulation,” Cintas could be in violation of federal immigration law.”
But, should Cintas fire any employee as a result of any social security number ireegularities, the company would be complying with federal immigration laws already in existence. Specifically the Immigration and Control Act of 1986, which mandates that employers cannot knowingly hire or continue to employ unautherized workers.
And if a worker cannot prove the Social Security number is his, then he’s an unauthorized worker and termination is required by law.
In 2004 The Court of Appeals Division I in Washington State found termination because of non-verification of a social security number to be justified in the Lorena B.Anica vs. Wal-Mart Stores case. Basically, Anica sued alleging wrongful termination for a variety of reasons.
Wal-Mart explained that Anica was fired because she repeatedly, over a six-month period, failed to provide a valid Social Security number. The court found in favor of Wal-Mart.
Clearly, anyone using a false Social Security Number is not just an unautherized worker but also a felon as defined by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981.
In fact, if the Omnibus Act and IIRCA were actualy enforced, there would be no need for any new regulations, which, as Mr. Thompson assures us, could be changed or killed altogether via the “rule making process”.
I suspect Mr. Thompson is aware of all this.
I also suspect that Mr. Thompson’s indignant letter and blustering threats have less to do with federal immigration laws and everything to do with his being “extremely concened about any potentially discriminatory actions targeting thei community.”
Like the Republicans, willing to ignore immigration laws for their friends in the business community, Thompson and his ilk ignore those same laws in the intersts of racial solidarity.
This heavy handed and Kabuki like performance of struggling to find new rules and regulations, while ignoring statutes already in existence, is merely an affirmation by the Democrats to carry on the proud Republican tradition of doing nothing while the nation and the culture disappear under successive waves of cheap, third world laborers.
Most of whom will vote Democratic, as soon as the two parties have managed to grant them voting rights, despite all the Reublican pandering.
In the end, there’s not much difference in the results is there?
Our country has become a place where politicians are too stupid or greedy to move beyond their own special interests, big business funds our own destruction and a population whose political choices consist of the same poison served up by both major parties.
Not to mention an ill defined war completely mismanaged by a self deluded and arrogant leadership.
As a country, we haven’t made the transition into the 21st century yet.
One wonders how many more of us will have to die before our political class can be replaced with Americans instead of multicultural courtesans.
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