The Business Cost of Immigration Enforcement

Just how much will the government's crackdown on businesses' hiring of illegal immigrants cost? The Chamber of Commerce has an answer. In a new study, a former Office of Management and Budget economist estimates that the government's proposed rules would cost business an estimated $1 billion.

That should be enough for the Department of Homeland Security to re-evaluate its proposed no-match rule, the report stated. The proposed rule would require businesses to fire employees if Social Security cannot find a match between their name and social security number. Though businesses still oppose the rule, the government revised the proposal to offer safe-harbor to businesses that follow the procedures. The move came after the initial proposal was challenged in federal court.

In the past few years the feds have stepped up workplace enforcement actions. Business have hardly been pleased and many say they have suffered greatly because of them. But after the failure of the immigration reform bill last summer, Immigration and Customs Enforcment only reinforced its emphasis on workplace raids.

—Emma Schwartz