10/29/08 Now What?

Now What? I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. The Department of Homeland Security issued its long awaited new or supplemental Final Rule commonly called the "No-Match Safe Harbor" rule. Dan Fazio, Washington State Farm Bureau Director of Member Services explains. FAZIO: Now the final rule is out and now the agency can make a motion to the court to lift the injunction. Right now enforcement of the rule was enjoined by the court way back about a year ago actually so now the agency has a new rule. They can go back to the court and ask them to lift the injunction. The No-Match rule was created as a stop gap measure since there has been no formal immigration laws passed in the last couple of years. FAZIO: In August of 2007 the agency enacted a Safe Harbor No-Match rule and the AFL-CIO and others immediately went to court claiming that the law was not well written or was illegal actually. The judge agreed and issued an injunction preventing the law from going into effect. Employers that had employees with social security numbers that did not match were subject to the no-match rule and it put a heavy burden on the employer. FAZIO: Since then the agency has gone back and tried to address the issues the court cited in its injunction. They've done that with this new rule. And now the new rule is out but of course it can't go into effect until the court rules on whether or not the injunction can be lifted. There are a number of issues that need to be addressed according to Fazio. FAZIO: The key issue in the trial is whether or not the Department of Homeland Securities has the authority under the Immigration and Naturalization Act to enact this rule. That's one of several issues that they've raised about the rule. So assuming that the injunction is lifted and assuming that the trial goes forth and the judge says that the agency had the ability to enact this rule, then our guys would have to live with the rule. It will be interesting to see how this plays out with Election Day only a week away. Both candidates has used the immigration troubles in their platforms. Of course it will likely still take years before a workable plan is enacted so depending on how this rule goes, it may be that employers will have to deal with it. At least for a little while. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.