PERSPECTIVES ON ZOE BAIRD : Blame Congress, INS for ‘Wink and Nod’

Responsibility for the dilemma faced by Zoe Baird and countless other working mothers who employ foreign help should be shared by Congress and the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Insensitive INS laws dictate that nannies, as well as some other nonprofessional workers, can be sponsored for permanent residency, but that it will take eight years or longer to get a green card. During that time, the nanny is still considered illegal and cannot receive a Social Security card. The INS laws are skewed in favor of professional, college-degreed foreign workers who can obtain work permits expeditiously.

Particularly in Texas and California, INS officials express little reservation in arresting and deporting nannies, uprooting them from the children who have bonded with them and assessing fines against the employers. In the Northern and Eastern regions, INS prosecutions against household employers are rare. Apparently, the “wink and the nod” from INS often prompts attorneys to counsel that the employment of illegal nannies is inconsequential.

Solutions such as an amnesty for employers and an immigration vehicle to lawfully employ foreign workers occupying shortage occupations need to be explored.