by Patricia A. Schaeffer, Vice President-Regulatory Affairs
A federal district court judge in San Francisco issued an order on August 31 temporarily blocking the government from implementing a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “no-match” rule. The order prohibits DHS from enforcing the rule until October 1, when another federal judge will consider whether to grant a permanent injunction. The order is a result of a lawsuit filed by the AFL-CIO, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Law Center and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County along with other local labor movements. The lawsuit claimed that DHS and SSA had overstepped their authority by attempting to use wage and tax information to enforce immigration law. The rule had been set to go into effect on September 14.