[Note: This is an open letter written by Greg Siskind on his ILW.com blog at http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind ]

Lou Dobbs gets all the glory for turning returning CNN into the anti-immigrant news network but give a little credit to Jack Cafferty who is doing his part as well.  Take this well reasoned little piece at http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/02/cafferty.immigration/index.html -- please!  Mr. Cafferty would like to lecture us on the finer points of the law. Today he's upset about the delay of the implementation of the new no match rule recently issued by the Department of Homeland Security:

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.

Actually, Judge Breyer is concerned about DHS subverting the law.  Every federal agency is required to follow something called the Regulatory Flexibility Act before they can release a final regulation.  The RSA requires an agency to demonstrate that it has looked at the impact a regulation will have on small business and has drawn up the regulation in a manner designed to achieve the policy objectives with the least damage to the nation's businesses.  This is not mean that the no match regulation would not ultimately be issued.  But it does mean that DHS has to at least think through how they track the rules and implement them.  Did DHS do that in this case?  Not according to the Small Business Administration (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2007/09/dhs-goes-to-war.html) which last week issued a letter to Secretary Chertoff expressing concerns over justice issue.  If the DHS' own sister agency is questioning whether the law was violated, is it unreasonable for Judge Breyer to also be concerned?

Another major question regarding the new regulations is what to do when an innocent American is incorrectly identified and no match letter.  No match letters have been issued by the system security administration for several years.  This rule setting a 90 day clock to correct problems or forcing employers to terminate employees is what is new.  And what we've seen for the last several years is that the Social Security Administration has a terrible record when it comes to quickly correcting problems.  And that means that US citizens stand a significant risk of losing their jobs because the SSA is incapable of doing its job.  Mr. Cafferty -- would you like to explain to one of those citizens why everything is so simple? Have you dealt with the SSA? Were you completely satisfied with your service? They're about to issue 140,000 letters covering an average of ten workers per letter. Don't you worry how the agency will be able to deal with a million plus individuals? Even if only a small fraction need corrections, the agency will still be overwhelmed and getting the problem before the 90 day clock is up is simply not realistic.

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?

Actually, Mr. Cafferty, this is where it would help if you actually did some homework before commenting.  This law has NO T been on the books for a long time.  The regulation was issued August 14, 2007 to be precise.  It was set to take forced in mid-September.  A lawsuit was filed within hours of the regulation being issued in the court has acted with lightning speed to address the issues in the challenge. If you bothered to do any research (or asked a competent assistant to do the research for you), surely you would have not bothered to make this statement.

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

Mr. Cafferty -- I don't expect you to show any shame. That's too much for which to hope.  But there was a day when CNN held itself out as a world-class journalistic organization.  Long gone are the days when nothing went on the air without at least some basic fact checking.  CNN's decline has been long and steep and the fact that the world's largest news network allows this type of trash to be aired or published under its own name is the real disgrace.