Advocates
say an increasing number of immigrant workers are being fired from low-wage
jobs because their social security numbers don’t match their names – even
though some have legal working papers. WNYC’s Marianne McCune reports.

There are
no hard numbers, but advocates say more employers are firing immigrant workers
when they find discrepancies between their names and social security numbers.

They assume
the workers are illegal which the case is not always. Advocates are urging
employers not to take action based on the social security administrations’
database because it’s flawed — even the agencies own inspector general
published a report saying 70 percent of discrepancies apply to native-born
citizens – not illegal immigrants.

A federal
program requiring employers to investigate discrepancies and take action if
they’re not cleared up within 3 months has been held up in federal courts.

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