Comments on: Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t… Hell, Damned if You Try To Run Any Kind of Business at All

By: Noumenon

Noumenon — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:37:42 +0000

You have a really unique vantage point here. There are hardly any people who have time to run a business and blog. And there are hardly any people who realize how much trouble it is, either. Your experience is more persuasive to me than a lot of ideological posts. (speaking of persuasive, your photos of climate stations are the most persuasive thing I've seen on global warming)

(I often disagree with you in case you don't remember)

By: Bill Lever

Bill Lever — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:14:35 +0000

Lol... The system sucks on purpose... who would guess these people were so skillful? It might force some rethinking of Coyote's Law right about apparent incompetence being actual incompetence.

Highly focused and disciplined incomptetence to achieve political goals.

The "virtual fence" that is outrageously expensive, now doesn't work and will need years to redesign and deploy seems like it came right out of the same playbook.

Maybe there are a few tests we should demannd to ensure that someone has really done their best.

1. Aircraft mechanics must go on the first flight after they fix an airplane.

2. Bureaucrat fingers have to fill out any form or websites they design.

3. Congressional representatives and senators must report to a townhall meeting in their district on about March 15 of each year and be locked in the room until they prepare 5 tax returns of constituents chosen at random (or better because of some real complication.)

By: Veracitor

Veracitor — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:47:23 +0000

I hope you realize that you're aiming much of your ire in the wrong direction. The E-Verify system and the required annoying "training" for it and all that stuff sucks on purpose, because the Administration does not want to help anyone comply with immigration laws. The Administration has intentionally screwed up the system to persuade businessmen like you to lobby for open borders. Now, of course, you don't need to be persuaded-- you already believe in open borders. But most people disagree with you so the Administration is doing its best to harass businesses who try to comply with the immigration laws, hoping they'll complain to their Congressthieves and get the immigration laws repealed.

This is one case where it really is malice rather than incompetence at work.

By: Jeff S.

Jeff S. — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:39:00 +0000

If you did all that in only an hour and a half you are a deranged genius.

By: Bob Longendyck

Bob Longendyck — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:21:13 +0000

Just wait:
Your PIN lapses after 1 year; you must wait until your PIN lapses to re-apply for an additional year. it takes about 2 weeks (currently) to receive your new PIN, during which time you cannot verify SS numbers (they don't answer the phones, so forget that.) Plan not to hire during that 2 week period.
What a country.

By: Greg Freeman

Greg Freeman — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:20:07 +0000

Wow, that’s disgusting. Reminds me of the beginning of Gangs of New York when all the politicians were handing out freebies to all the Irish immigrants. Sometimes I’m amazed at how many people still manage to run their own businesses. When I hear about things like this, I wonder how many businesses would have existed if it weren’t for all the silly laws, paperwork, and taxes that someone has to go through.

By: tokay

tokay — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:41:42 +0000

I think the problem is in the definition of a legal immigrant. As far as the feds are concerned, legal immigrants have been authorized to stay and work in the country. Non-immigrants include tourists and students and are NOT generally authorized to work. Foreign students may have a special situation where they can work on-campus for less than 20 hours per week, otherwise they have to ask for permission from USCIS. If you hire a non-immigrant, i.e. tourist to work, you are definitely violating federal law. Hiring an illegal immigrant is the same thing since they are, by definition, not authorized to work in the country.

So you are technically not discriminating against hiring an illegal immigrant because the feds don't authorize them to work to begin with. Legal immigrants who are authorized to work but are not permanent residents (or green card holders as they used to be called) include those here as refugee asylees and those who are in the process of changing or adjusting their status (e.g. just got married and trying to get permanent residency). They still have to get work authorization from USCIS, and without that, they are not allowed to work at all.

As far as I can tell, there are no inconsistencies between the federal and state laws. The federal law is saying hire those who are legally authorized to work (because if they're not authorized, you both are violating more federal laws) but you can't discriminate against someone just because he's a foreigner, or he's not a permanent resident but just a student, or something to that effect. But illegal immigrants and tourists are still not authorized to work.

By the way, I was a foreign student, went home, got married to an American citizen years later, went through the whole adjustment of status and getting the work permit process, and am now an American citizen. That's just my way of explaining why I'm a little familiar with the weird workings of the immigration bureaucracy.