Business frets over new rules on illegals

By Timothy Pratt

Friday, Aug. 10, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

Thousands of workers across Nevada could be pushed out of their jobs because of new federal and state measures aimed at getting rid of illegal immigrants in the workplace, local industry officials and advocates said.

Officials from industries that employ most of Nevada's workers said this week the recently announced federal crackdown on undocumented workers may cut into the Las Vegas Valley's growth.

U.S. Homeland Security Department officials said the new rules will require employers to fire workers who use false Social Security numbers.

The federal announcement comes only seven weeks before a new state law takes effect that includes possible penalties against Nevada companies that employ illegal immigrants.

The state law, Assembly Bill 383, allows Nevada Taxation Department officials to impose fines on businesses that the federal government finds "engaged in the unlawful hiring or employment of an unauthorized alien."

Under the federal rules, "we run the risk of losing employees and good members of the community," said Van Heffner, president of the Nevada Hotel & Lodging Association. The trade group represents owners of hotels with 125,000 rooms and 250,000 employees.

Paul Hartgen, president of the Nevada Restaurant Association, said the 150,000 workers in the state's restaurants also may be affected by the change.

"It depends on how it's implemented," he said.

Civil liberties and immigration advocates, meanwhile, are concerned about the new rules changing how employers hire workers.

The federal and state measures may "contribute to a toxic, divisive environment ... (that) could encourage employers to racially profile," said Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada American Civil Liberties Union.

Fernando Romero, president of Hispanics in Politics, sees the two measures as "a bandwagon that is rolling and people are jumping on it without taking into account future repercussions, economic and otherwise."

The federal rules were initially discussed a year ago as part of a bill before the Congress, said Veronica Nur Valdes, Homeland Security Department spokeswoman. The agency has not yet formally announced the rules but is expected to do so in the coming weeks.

Dino DiCianno, executive director of the Nevada Taxation Department, said he was not aware of the new federal rules and that regulations, including fines, would soon be set under the new state law.

Both measures are meant to attack a crucial piece of the immigration debate - the magnet that jobs create for illegal immigrants.

"We're not going to accept excuses from employers who are blatantly disregarding the law," Nur Valdes said.

But Nevada industry officials said there few employers in that category.

"Most businesses want to do things the right way," Hartgen said.

The fear, he said, is that hiring will become more burdensome. Other officials say employers are being targeted instead of fixing a broken immigration system.

But Nur Valdes said the new rules will make their jobs easier.

"Up to now we know employers have faced ambiguity," she said. "We're going to eliminate that."

The rules hinge on the "no-match letters" the Social Security Administration sends to employers when Social Security numbers and names do not match the agency's records.

In 2006 the agency sent 138,000 such letters to employers across the nation with more than 10 employees whose records did not match agency records. In 2005, the most recent year for which Nevada figures were available, the agency sent 1,716 letters to Nevada companies.

It is expected that employers, under the new rules, will be granted a certain amount of time to determine whether the mismatch is because of clerical error. If it is not, and absent another explanation, the employer must fire the worker or face fines.

Heffner said he is concerned about future growth if workers are lost. Projects under way or scheduled for the near future in the hotel industry will create the need for as many as 213,000 new employees, he said.

He noted that "some of our best workers" come from families where somebody is an illegal immigrant, what are known as mixed-status families. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated last year that as many as 150,000 illegal immigrants worked in Nevada.

Heffner said the family relationships involved make the issue not just an economic issue, but also a humanitarian one.

"This is something that is not just going to go away," he said.

Peck said the new rules could lead employers to look at Hispanic hires differently.

"I'm not accusing them of being racist," he said.

"But if they are being calculated and logical about hiring decisions, I could imagine them saying, 'Let's just avoid hiring people with Hispanic surnames' - and avoid any potential problems."