Cafferty: Judge makes a disgraceful decision

Jack Cafferty is a commentator for CNN's "The Situation Room,"and the author of the new best-selling book "It's Getting Ugly out There."

NEW YORK -- I'm a college dropout, but even I can understand this.

Just when there is some slight indication the federal government is going to try to enforce the laws against illegal immigrants, count on an activist federal judge getting in the way.

Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for Northern California (where else?) is blocking efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to crack down on those who hire illegal immigrants.

There are an estimated 10 million to 20 million illegal immigrants in this country. Many of them come here to work.

Here's how the DHS program would work: If an employer finds out an employee's information doesn't match Social Security records and the employee can't clarify the issue within 90 days, the employer would have to fire that person or risk being prosecuted. In other words, if the employee obtained his job under false pretenses and was working for the company illegally, he would be fired. Seems simple enough, except when you have an activist judge intent on subverting the law.

The suit challenging the government was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the AFL-CIO and several San Francisco labor groups.

Judge Breyer has delayed the start of enforcement for 10 more days while he examines the legality of the issue. Huh? This law has been on the books for a long time without challenge. What exactly is the problem here? It's against the law to hire illegal immigrants, period.

Judge Breyer has also blocked the Social Security Administration from sending out 140,000 so-called "no-match" letters to employers hiring people whose names and Social Security numbers don't match.

Judge Breyer said compliance with the law could put a "potentially enormous burden on the employer." Yeah, just like complying with OSHA regulations costs money.

The judge raised other issues, too, including the language and legality of those "no-match" letters. Either the number matches or it doesn't, another mountain out of a mole hill. And the judge says he's worried about potential discrimination in firing illegal Hispanic workers but not other illegal workers. Come on, your honor. If you are discriminated against at your place of employment, you have recourse on your own regardless of nationality.

The bigger question is, if it's against the law to hire illegal immigrants, why is this even before a judge? Because there is an agenda at work here to leave the illegal immigrant problem alone. Too many special interest groups benefit from the cheap labor, etc. That's why you didn't see anything resembling real immigration reform coming out of Congress and why you still haven't seen our borders secured six years after 9/11.

It's an absolute disgrace, and Judge Charles Breyer should be ashamed of himself.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer. E-mail to a friend