Judge blocks illegal immigration plan

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A federal judge in San Francisco has placed a temporary block on a U.S. government plan to target employers that hire illegal immigrants.

U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney placed a temporary restraining order on a Social Security Administration plan to alert companies that employ workers whose names do not match the Social Security numbers they gave when they were hired, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

The order also blocks the Department of Homeland Security from penalizing companies that fail to act when notified of a worker's status.

"This is a critical and important first step," said Lucas Guttentag, director of the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants' Rights Project and a lawyer for a coalition of labor and immigrant rights groups that filed suit against the government's plan. "It means that workers will not be threatened as a result of an improper rule or inaccurate notices that were about to be sent out."

Homeland Security spokeswoman Laura Keehner said the department expects the program to eventually go into action, despite the court's decision.

"We are disappointed by the delay and expect to prevail once the court has the benefit of full briefings and arguments," she said.