What's the Deal With Social Security No-Match Letters?

For two years, supporters of border security have complained about the Social Security Administration ending their policy of sending "no-match" letters to businesses who were submitting SS numbers that didn't match up with the alleged employee it represented.

On today's show, I received conflicting reports from callers re: whether or not the SSA has in fact stopped sending those letters. Here's the answer:

The SSA sent no-match letters to over 950,000 employers throughout 2002, and this created many problems for immigrant workers, their families, communities, and employers. In Dec. 2002, the SSA decided to change its policy regarding the no-match letter program for 2003...This year, it will send no-match letters only to employers that have more than 10 employees whose information does not match the SSA's and who file W-2s in which mismatched records account for at least one-half of one percent of the total amount of earnings reported for tax year 2002. The SSA estimates that it will send out no-match letters to about 130,000 employers in 2003.

Not ended. Just dramatically scaled back.