04/10/08 No match letters not to be ignored

On the Senate floor this week Idaho's Larry Craig denounced his colleagues because there isn't enough immigrant labor to harvest American crops. CRAIG "The exportation of American agriculture production today because this Congress can't get it right about immigration is tragic." While Congress twiddles its thumbs American farmers are getting no-match letters from the government concerning discrepancies on employee's Social Security information. American Farm Bureau attorney Danielle Quist says these seasonal workers come and go. QUIST "By the time they received a no match letter its very possible that the employees are no longer working for them. How an employer is supposed to resolve the Social Security number discrepancy at this point is just unknown." And to complicate it even more farmers making hiring decisions are caught between these immigration rules and anti-discrimination laws which restrict what documents they can take and questions they can ask of prospective employees. QUIST "As long as the documents appear valid on their face a farmer is not in a position to enforce the immigration laws and say 'hey I think this is a fraudulent document' unless it is clearly fraudulent when they have it in their hands." If you get a no-match letter Quist says follow the instructions and complete the form to avoid legal liability. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott