Withholdings forbidden

Illinois has made it illegal for employers to withhold FICA and Social Security from employee paychecks due to errors in Social Security files. The law is pending the governor’s signature.

Illinois lawmakers were worried that the database used by the Social Security Administration does not contains accurate information and have established a 99% accuracy rating before allowing Illinois employers to resume withholding deductions from paychecks.

Oh wait…I got it wrong…right database…right accuracy standard…wrong group. Illinois has written a law that forbids employers to use the Basic PILOT program for verifying the immigration status of new hires.

You can tell they are creating a protected class (illegal aliens) because the law also condemns all other verification methods with this wording: “Employers are prohibited from enrolling in any Employment Eligibility Verification System, including the Basic Pilot…”

The law is mute regarding SAVE, the companion program used to establish eligibility for welfare benefits. Surely the state must stop paying out welfare until such time as SAVE is 99% accurate in determining immigration status. But NO, it’s OK to give away state money from an inaccurate database!

I’m sure our Senator Noland consulted the local chapter president of LULAC, Veronica Noland. But I’m not sure any legislator from the Elgin area spoke with the president of Fox Valley Citizens for Legal Immigration, a local group seeking for some common sense in dealing with the illegals in the area.

At the end of the day, it’s OK for the people to pay into a Social Security system that is inaccurate, but it’s not OK to screen applicants using the same system.

Surely the legislators know that the overwhelming percentage of the errors in the database are due to the cardholders themselves. When someone gets married or divorced they must contact the SSA to have the name changed on the account. Failure to do so creates an “error”.

Surely the legislators must also know that Basic Pilot has a process for dealing with legitimate errors; a process that works just fine. They must also know that it is against federal law to fire a new hire without giving them an opportunity to correct the discrepancies.

Once again the Illinois State Legislature has shown their double standard by refusing to do anything about the presence of illegal aliens because it is a “federal matter” yet wading into the other side of this “federal matter” with laws such as this one and issuing driving certificates to illegals.

And based on the vote tallies, the conservative representative is an endangered species in Illinois.