MEMO FROM THE EDITOR
MEMO from the Editor Your Papers, Please The line is one of the great movie cliches: A jackbooted Nazi officer, monocle firmly in place, snarls "Where are your papers?" and seals the fate of the...
...and seals the fate of the noble but frightened fugitive to whom the question is addressed...
...It isn't that we're Luddites (though we've heard the accusation from time to time) but that we're compelled to watch every nickel—and we learned long ago that new equipment and new systems tend to come at high cost and with lots of defects...
...Daniel Brandt of Micro Associates has compiled an index of more than 26,000 individuals whose names have appeared in hundreds of books and articles dealing with U.S...
...The penalty for being an undocumented alien is, of course, harsher still: arrest, detention, and deportation, perhaps to a homeland where one's liberty and even life will be in grave jeopardy...
...Under the law, an employer who fails to complete and retain the verification forms can be fined $ 100 to $ 1,000 for each individual hired without the requisite documentation...
...The Milwaukee office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service advises that when the "education and grace period" provided by the law ends on May 31, every business employing more than three persons—that certainly includes The Progressive—will be required to fill out the new Form 1-9 for each employee hired since the law went into effect...
...it needs no warrant or subpoena to inspect employment records) employers must verify the residency status of each new employee by scrutinizing such documents as passports, certificates of citizenship or naturalization, alien registration cards, or birth certificates...
...Just as The Progressive's April issue was coming off the press, Yevtushenko's American publisher, editor-in-chief John Macrae of Henry Holt & Company, announced that the Pentagon had cancelled a scheduled appearance by the poet at the U.S...
...But not everyone shares our interest in the Soviet poet's observations on current changes in his native land...
...I have before me some instructions for compliance with the immigration "reform" law that Congress enacted late last year...
...In addition to keeping the 1-9 form on file for at least three years after the hiring date (the INS can drop in at any time...
...The Progressive rarely finds itself on the cutting edge of technological innovation...
...Macrae said Yevtushenko had been invited to appear at West Point on April 2 for a reading of his poetry and a talk with cadets...
...Anyone interested in what Brandt calls power-structure research would be well-advised to check out his computer discs...
...The penalties for knowingly hiring unauthorized aliens are much stiffen fines of $250 to $2,000 per person for a first offense, $2,000 to $5,000 for a second offense, and $3,000 to $5,000 for a third offense...
...So we're just beginning to discover some of the interesting adjuncts of computer technology that may, by now, be old-hat to more sophisticated users...
...Military Academy...
...The Army had cleared the visit, but higher authorities in the Department of Defense apparently objected and withdrew the invitation...
...The demand for documents is perceived everywhere—but especially in the United States— as the hallmark of the police state...
...To establish the identity of the new employee and the validity of his or her documentation, employers may rely on drivers' licenses or other official ID cards...
...Among other provisions, the law makes it illegal knowingly to employ an alien who does not have official permission to hold a job in this country...
...intelligence and surveillance activities, right-wing organizations, foreign intervention, and multinational corporations...
...Last month's cover story, Katrina Van-den Heuvel's interview with Yevgeny Yevtushenko, has met with an enthusiastic response from subscribers in this country and abroad...
...Unfortunately, we're all under increasing pressure to show our papers—or to ask others to show theirs...
...I've been deeply impressed, for example, by some computer software from Micro Associates, Box 5369, Arlington, VA 22205...
...I wonder how the court will react when I explain, in mitigation for failing to follow through on Form 1-9, that I hired on to be an editor, not a cop...
...A dozen years ago, when most publications had long since made the transition to computerized photocomposition, we were still setting this magazine in hot-metal type...
...They didn't say why...
...If any cadet would like to have a taste of what the Academy wasn't allowed to hear, we'll be glad to send off a free copy of the April issue...
Vol. 51 • May 1987 • No. 5
