Unions have also been outraged by the collusion initiated by IRCA between various federal agencies and the Immigration and Naturalisation Services. The Social Security Department still sends no-match letters to employers when it notices that social security numbers submitted by employers do not match their database. Employers do not need to take overt action to cast a chill over an organising drive, however. One of the more insidious effects of employer sanctions has been that employers are often aware of exactly who has dubious papers and will use this information to target shop-floor activists. One of our women leaders was pulled aside by a supervisor and told privately that if she didn't calm down with her union activity, her papers would be scrutinised.
Employers can target directly the people who are bringing the union in.
IRCA was supported by a strange coalition of unions, progressive democrats, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, and socially conservative republicans. While some unions certainly backed employer sanctions for xenophobic reasons, many supported employer sanctions in the conviction that unfettered undocumented immigration depressed wages and led to the creation of an exploitative underground labour market. Perversely, IRCA only reinforced the vulnerabilities of undocumented workers without curbing employers incentives or capacity to exploit undocumented workers. Efforts to protect the privileges of one group of workers by enforcing selective laws to exclude another group of workers backfired. Now the AFL-CIO's new immigration policy reflects the unions own organising needs, and the political demands of their growing and active immigrant membership.