The Dept. of Homeland Security has officially proposed to rescind its controversial “no-match” rule as promised earlier this summer by Labor Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The “no match” rule required employers to follow up and resolve discrepancies after receiving notice from the Social Security Administration about mismatches in name and social security number of a worker in employer reports and what is contained in the SSA’s database, or after receiving a “notice of suspect document” from DHS. If the discrepancy was not resolved, employers would have been required to terminate individuals or face liability for employing unauthorized aliens. The final rule was published in August 2007, but never implemented due to a federal court injunction sought by employer and union groups.

DHS says that it has now decided to “focus its enforcement efforts relating to the employment of aliens not authorized to work in the United States on increased compliance through improved verification, including participation in E-Verify, ICE Mutual Agreement Between Government and Employers (IMAGE), and other programs.”