A federal judge in San Francisco has extended an order temporarily prohibiting the Social Security Administration from sending so-called "no match" letters to employers whose workers' names do not match a federal database. The Department of Homeland Security rule is one of the government's most recent attempts to enforce immigration law by relying on questionable data and threatening the rights of U.S. citizen and non-citizen workers.

Judge Charles R. Breyer indicated he would make a final ruling in 10 days and, according to The New York Times, "strongly suggested that he was leaning against the government in the case."

Under the DHS regulation, which was originally scheduled to take effect September 14, employers receiving "no match" letters might be required to fire employees whose SSA discrepancies are not resolved within 90 days after the "no match" letter is received. By the government's own account, the federal databases used match employees' names to social security records to confirm their work authorization are unreliable and error-prone.

"We are pleased that the judge saw the need to continue to block this rule that would lead to increased exploitation of workers," said John Sweeney, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), in a press release. "More than 70% of SSA discrepancies refer to U.S. citizens but the DHS regulation would encourage employers to fire any worker based on these erroneous discrepancies, especially if she has an accent or is perceived to be foreign born."

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, AFL-CIO, and National Immigration Law Center. The full complaint is available on the ACLU website: www.aclu.org/nomatch.

Last week, the U.S. government filed a lawsuit against Illinois for rejecting the federal employment verification system due to its high rate of inaccuracies.