Thread: Immigration debate surfaces in stimulus bill

Immigration debate surfaces in stimulus bill
Stephen Wall, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/08/2009 07:06:07 AM PST


Groups opposed to illegal immigration are mobilizing to ensure that the massive economic stimulus package under consideration in Congress contains provisions to protect American workers.
At a time of rising unemployment, the federal government should focus on creating jobs that will be filled by American citizens, not illegal immigrants, the groups say.

The $819 billion economic stimulus bill approved by the House last month included two provisions related to the E-verify program - an electronic tool that allows employers to verify the legal work status of potential employees.

Two amendments were added to the bill that passed on a party-line vote. One, from Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Riverside, reauthorizes the E-Verify program for four years. The other, from Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Georgia, requires all contractors receiving stimulus funds to verify that their employees are legally authorized to work in the United States.

As the Senate takes up stimulus legislation, Republican lawmakers and anti-illegal-immigration groups are working to include the worker verification requirements in the bill.

"E-Verify is the hinge on which all immigration enforcement and deterrence swings," said Rick Oltman, spokesman for Californians for Population Stabilization. "If you can reliably tell the people of the world that there is no job for you in America because we are checking, that will have an enormous deterrent effect."

E-Verify has been offered free to all employers on a voluntary basis since 2004. As of Jan. 8, about 100,000 employers were enrolled in the program, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The agency operates the program in partnership with the Social Security Administration.

Employers have been able to automatically verify the eligibility of more than 18 million workers since the program started on a limited basis in 1997, according to the agency.

Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, has been a co-sponsor of separate legislation to make E-Verify permanent.

"The congressman feels this is far and away the best way to get at the fundamental problem of unscrupulous employers taking advantage of illegal immigrants and obviously taking advantage of the American workforce," said Jim Specht, Lewis' spokesman.

Oltman said that making E-Verify mandatory would show the American people that the federal government is serious about stopping illegal immigration.

"Until the federal government makes E-Verify mandatory, only then would I believe they are protecting our sovereignty and securing our border," Oltman said. "Until then, anything they do is a half-measure."

Immigrant advocacy groups say that the issue of verifying worker eligibility should be kept out of the stimulus bill.

Critics contend the program has significant weaknesses, including a reliance on government databases that have unacceptably high error rates. Employers also misuse the program to take adverse actions against workers, according to the National Immigration Law Center, an organization that protects the rights of low-income immigrants and families.

"With the economy the way it is, people can't afford to be out of work because of an error in a government database," said Tyler Moran, the center's employment policy director.

Others say the program needs to be carefully reviewed and fixed before it becomes mandatory. Expanding it on a large scale should be done in the context of comprehensive immigration reform, said Michele Waslin, senior policy analyst at the Immigration Policy Center, a pro-immigrant research institution.

"This is not a magic bullet that's going to solve the problem," Waslin said. "It's going to end up hurting U.S. workers in the meantime."

Federal officials say they continue to make enhancements to improve the accuracy of the system.

More than 96 percent of qualified employees are automatically cleared by the program, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Specht said the stimulus bill passed by the House contains provisions to strengthen the program.

"Certainly, the congressman believes that there ought to be strong enforcement to ensure that we crack down on anybody who might be abusing the program," Specht said.

http://www.sbsun.com/ci_11658071?source=rss

The stimulus plan desperately needs E-Verify provisions for all government agencies, contractors and recipients of every dime of this money.

Ideally, our Congress would have the sense to pass E-Verify and the SAVE ACT and can this non-stimulus "stimulus" plan, but if they pass the non-stimulus "stimulus" plan, it should definitely go to US companies, not one foreign company and US citizens, not illegal aliens.

THE E-VERIFY SYSTEM SHOULD BE A PART OF THE STIMULUS BILL. I AM ALL FOR ANYTHING THAT WOULD PREVENT ILLEGALS FROM OBTAINING EMPLOYMENT AND ANYTHING ELSE IN THIS COUNTRY. ITS A SAD FACT,THAT A LOT OF ILLEGALS ARE EMPLOYED WHILE THERE ARE MILLIONS OF AMERICANS OUT OF WORK. OF COURSE THOSE WHO ARE ADVOCATING FOR THE ILLEGAL ALIENS ARE GOING TO FIND SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE E-VERIFY SYSTEM BECAUSE, THEY WANT TO CONTINUE TO ALLOW THESE ILLEGALS TO WORK IN THE COUNTRY EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE NO LEGAL RIGHT TO DO SO. ITS TIME FOR THEM TO GIVE UP BECAUSE THE GOOD CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY ARE NOT GOING TO SIT BY AND JUST LET THEM AND THE ILLEGALS HAVE THEIR WAY

I hope you're right, LadyStClaire. I hope Americans will stand up and kill this bill or at least have E-Verify included if it passes.

"With the economy the way it is, people can't afford to be out of work because of an error in a government database," said Tyler Moran, the center's employment policy director.

The above gets the stupid and deceitful statement of the month award. The reason why the open-borders fringe doesn't like E-Verify is because it is and will be very effective in keeping illegal aliens from stealing jobs from Americans.

Numbers USA said Reid, Menendez oppose e-verify (I knew this for years) and were ready to block it's insertion into the Senate version of the trillion dollar Ponzi scheme if Baucus allowed Sessions to bring it up to the floor for a vote. Menendez is the main reason why the senate won't extend e-verify (again with Reid working behind the scenes) because this horse's ass is holding it hostage until he gets his 550,000 additional foreign worker visas. Reid needs cheap illegal labor for his casinos especially with a provision in this porkfest to install neon signs in his casinos and many other Vegas businesses and the construction of a mob museum depicting Reid's life.