The Bush Administration's looming threat to undocumented immigrants was temporarily stalled when a California judge barred the administration from enacting illegitimate anti-immigrant legislation that would use employers and the Social Security Administration as immigration agents.

If Bush is permitted to continue this country's legacy of xenophobic legislation and revives parts of the Senate’s flawed comprehensive immigration reform bill, the Aug. 31 nationwide restraining order will only serve as a brief victory for the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants, workers and their families, unions, and the economy.

Bush’s executive order, which comes six weeks after the failure of the Senate bill, would require employers to fire workers who are unable to resolve issues with their Social Security numbers within 90 days. The order was released on Aug. 11, and was to be enacted in 30 days on Sept. 10.

For two decades, Social Security has sent “no match” letters notifying employers of any inconsistencies they have encountered with an employee’s W-2 tax record. These letters are commonly ignored by employers.

Homeland Security is trying to morph Social Security into an arm of immigration enforcement, despite the fact that the Social Security Administration was established to track and ensure that employees receive their disability and retirement benefits and “cannot share information about mismatched names/ SSN combinations on Forms W-2 with other Federal agencies,” according to the official Web site.

When the government falsely assumes that a mismatched Social Security number automatically equals illegal residency and undocumented status, many complications arise. Enforcement of Bush’s order may lead to errors and may terminate employees who are U.S. citizens because of misfiled papers or data entry errors.

Another major fallacy of this proposed wave of enforcement is the idea that once illegal immigrants are fired from their jobs, they will return back home. This is a false expectation. Undocumented immigrants will continue to reside in the United States regardless—they will just have far worse living and working conditions. They are also subject to greater exploitation, abuse, and will be forced to work for even less to survive and stay in the United States.

Unions and worker’s rights are also harmed by Bush’s proposed measures. If there is any discussion of union activity, employers can easily threaten undocumented employees with job termination.

“It’s kind of enforcing immigration law by having employers do it, and when you put that in the hands of employers, they will abuse it,” said David Bacon, a photojournalist and former union organizer. “If there is any union activity, they will ‘discover’ that the employees don’t have the correct Social Security number.”

The enforcement measures not only harms agriculture, but does inevitable damage to the whole economy. Unemployment will reach past illegal workers to U.S. citizens. When illegal farm workers are fired, crops may not be harvested, canneries may lose production, and truck drivers may have less to transport.

Undocumented students will likely also face problems if the restraining order is lifted. Students will have fewer options in seeking employment and supporting themselves through college.

“Whether they are students or not students, they will be run underground with less protection and more employer abuse,” said Renee Saucedo, co-director of the San Francisco Day Labor Program at La Raza Centro Legal. “It will be a lot harder to get dignified jobs, so they will have to find more temporary work, which means lower wages and no benefits.”

Undocumented immigrants may be breaking the law by illegally residing in the United States, but the injustice is a result of Bush’s reactionary executive order. Immigrants, illegal or not, enrich our society and help drive our economy. They stepped over the U.S.-Mexican border to get jobs, and if there was a less bureaucratic path to legalized status, they would take the appropriate steps and pay taxes. Immigration reform with false claims will only push undocumented immigrants deeper into the shadows. If the Bush Administration moves forward with this unrealistic solution to stop illegal immigration, they will only be successful in further stanching worker’s rights and causing immense suffering among workers and families.