Hector Figueroa, secretary-treasurer of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, who called Judge Breyer’s ruling “a victory that will halt unnecessary discrimination against workers and turmoil in our economy.” He went on to say, “The court recognized that implementing ‘enforcement only’ policies based on a backlogged and inaccurate database will not fix our broken immigration system. The notion of making immigrant workers miserable—by targeting and scaring them through no-match letters, raids and other punitive measures—is not only inhumane, it’s irrational.”26
Needless to say, the SEIU didn’t want the letters sent. That would have meant the U.S. was on to employers who weren’t doing what they were supposed to do—not employ illegal aliens. If the letters were sent and employers complied, the illegals would be detained and sent back home. They were here illegally, weren’t they? Isn’t that the law? Isn’t Judge Breyer supposed to enforce the law? But the SEIU won and the Department of Homeland Security lost.
The Department of Homeland Security’s woes never seem to end. Thirteen years, almost to the date after the Twin Tower attacks, The Washington Post ran a front page story describing the “exodus” of top-level officials from the Department of Homeland Security. Current and former officials say this is undercutting the agency’s ability to stay