Dear Friend:

This week’s issue inaugurates my weekly commentary. Today I analyze how Gov. Richardson’s endorsement of Sen. Obama may not help him among Latinos as much as some people think.

Some of you have asked me to pick what I consider the most important news events and then give more insight on those. This week, I’m going to do something different and give you my Top Six Latino News Events of the Week and offer you some deeper analysis and insight based on them.

#1 - Up to 140,000 Companies May Be Warned
About Hiring Undocumented Workers in June

Last fall, so called, “no match letters” to be sent out by the Social Security Administration were stalled by a Federal Judge in San Francisco. Presently, Judge Charles Breyer is hearing a lawsuit brought in coalition by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and the ACLU which says that the Homeland Security Plan to send these letters in mass will result in widespread production woes as well as lead to discriminatory practices in the workplace against American citizens. According to reporting by the Washington Post, the Bush Administration is hoping to begin sending letters out in June based on changing some technical aspects of the proposal. This is no doubt a political maneuver in an election year. The measure would force companies to resolve the issue within 90 days, either by firing the person or by assuring their true identity.

The cost to companies far exceeds the administration’s estimate of $3500 to $7000 for companies under 100 people and anywhere from $13,000 to $34,000 for companies with over 100 employees. They are not factoring in costs of recruiting, hiring or training. Many of these workers are in trade industries where safety is also an issue and it is documented that a majority of safety accidents occur in the first 30 days of employment. The average lost-time safety accident in the construction industry, for example, is around $100,000 when all costs are considered. If you get the letter, you must act. If you don’t, penalties can be severe. The Social Security Administration estimates that as many as 12.8 million records don’t match.

The problem we have is the disconnect between immigrations enforcement and business. Some companies simply tell their workers about the discrepancy and ask them to “take care of it” only to find out the next day that José is now Ramón. The dual-edged sword is that if you fire one or two people, you are at great risk for a mass exodus of your workforce. My advice is to ride it out as much as you can until after the elections. Let people handle their issues as they must. Unfortunately, everyone is in a Catch 22. Whoever is elected, we are almost sure to have comprehensive immigrations reform in 2009. Either way, companies will need to learn to hire a documented workforce for future long-term labor stability.