Thread: E-Verify doesn't prevent many companies from hiring undocumented workers

Tancredo: Mandatory E-Verify for Employment Should be Donald Trump’s Top Immigration Priority


Alex Wong/Getty Images7 Jan 20171,764

Yes, the wall on our southwest border can and should be built. But it is less important than enacting the mandatory E-Verify system for employment.

Let’s face it. We all know it is the prospect of a better life through employment that attracts the vast majority of border jumpers. Our system for blocking unlawful employment of foreign-born workers who lack a lawful work permit has always been a joke, and under Obama, enforcement has been an even lower priority than it was under Bush.

Congress can turn off the jobs magnet by enacting the mandatory E-Verify program, an internet-based system allowing instant verification of the legal status of job applicants. It has an error rate of less than 1 percent and costs employers next to nothing.

Foreign born workers have no constitutional right to employment. Like every European country, Mexico and all of the advanced nations of the world, the United States has a system of “work authorization permits” for legal employment by immigrants and all foreign nationals. The problem is, our laws against unlawful employment are not enforced– in fact, they are unenforceable without major changes and improvements.

The easy availability of unlawful employment is the giant magnet motivating millions of illegal aliens to cross our borders unlawfully. We also have a mushrooming problem of millions of “visa overstays,” people who arrive on a legal tourist or other temporary visa but do not leave on the expiration date. They, too, are most often seeking employment.

If we turn off the jobs magnet, illegal entry across our borders can change from a flood to a trickle. Then the Border Patrol could concentrate on stopping terrorists and drug traffickers, and job seekers would have to get in line for one of the many LEGAL guest worker programs already on the books.

The United States already has several guest worker programs that allow employers to hire foreign workers for seasonal labor– in agriculture, in seasonal ski resorts, in landscaping, and other fields. Foreign workers are brought in for seasonal jobs where it has been demonstrated that American workers are not available — and then they go home. We even allow the hiring of year-round foreign sheep herders from Peru, Portugal and Afghanistan because, evidently, Americans will not do those jobs.

There is an important principle involved in legal guest worker programs. They are authorized only when it has been demonstrated that American workers are not available at market-based wages. Foreign workers should be SUPPLEMENTING American workers, not REPLACING them.

As a member of Congress, I sponsored a bill to allow any employer to hire a foreign worker for any job after the US Labor Department had verified that wages had been rising in that occupation for at least three successive quarters, which would be a free market demonstration of a labor shortage. If wages are flat or declining, there is no documented labor shortage.

If there are genuine labor shortages in some occupations, then by all means, let’s have a viable, LEGAL guest worker program available to employers in those fields. But that is not the case with 98 percent of the jobs now going to illegal workers. The ready availability of cheap illegal labor has been a major factor in wage stagnation over the past 20 years.

That illegal spigot must be turned off, and making the E-Verify system mandatory for all employers is the way to do it.

The E-Verify system already exists as a voluntary program administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) bureau within the Department of Homeland Security. A 2014 statement by Lori Scialabba, Obama’s Acting Director of USCIS, endorsed the program as an immense success, with over a half-million employers participating nationwide: “Since it was established, E-Verify has experienced exponential growth, increased accuracy and high customer-satisfaction ratings.” So, why hasn’t mandatory E-Verify program been adopted by Congress already? It has been included as part of some of the amnesty bills proposed over the past decade, but only as a sop to immigration enforcement, never as stand-alone legislation to fix a concrete problem.

Why not? The answer is that the E-Verify program has been opposed because the open borders lobby knows it will work. It is opposed by the US Chamber of Commerce and every other member of the coalition that supported the 2013 “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill.

Rep. Lamar Smith’s mandatory E-Verify bill, HR 1147, was approved by bipartisan committee vote in the House in 2015, but never allowed to reach the floor for an up or down vote. Sen. Grassley’s bill was considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee but similarly never allowed to get to the floor.

With Republican majorities now controlling both the House and Senate calendars, there is no valid reason not to bring these bills to a vote. Differences can be ironed out in a conference committee and a bill sent to President Trump in the first 100 days of the session.

Sadly, despite lip service paid to mandatory E-Verify by scores of Republican bill sponsors, only strong push by President Trump and his executive branch appointees can move E-Verify program to a vote in Congress. If Trump is really serious about immigration enforcement, he will make this his top priority.

The E-Verify bill will be a good test case for his White House team. Will Trump’s White House policy team prevail over the “pragmatists” who will want to wait for “congressional consensus”?

Does Trump want to fix the problem, or merely continue blaming Democrats for obstruction? In truth, on many important immigration enforcement issues, the obstruction is coming from within his own party.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-govern...tion-priority/

Originally Posted by MW

Tancredo: Mandatory E-Verify for Employment Should be Donald Trump’s Top Immigration Priority


Alex Wong/Getty Images7 Jan 20171,764

Yes, the wall on our southwest border can and should be built. But it is less important than enacting the mandatory E-Verify system for employment.

Let’s face it. We all know it is the prospect of a better life through employment that attracts the vast majority of border jumpers. Our system for blocking unlawful employment of foreign-born workers who lack a lawful work permit has always been a joke, and under Obama, enforcement has been an even lower priority than it was under Bush.

Congress can turn off the jobs magnet by enacting the mandatory E-Verify program, an internet-based system allowing instant verification of the legal status of job applicants. It has an error rate of less than 1 percent and costs employers next to nothing.

Foreign born workers have no constitutional right to employment. Like every European country, Mexico and all of the advanced nations of the world, the United States has a system of “work authorization permits” for legal employment by immigrants and all foreign nationals. The problem is, our laws against unlawful employment are not enforced– in fact, they are unenforceable without major changes and improvements.

The easy availability of unlawful employment is the giant magnet motivating millions of illegal aliens to cross our borders unlawfully. We also have a mushrooming problem of millions of “visa overstays,” people who arrive on a legal tourist or other temporary visa but do not leave on the expiration date. They, too, are most often seeking employment.

If we turn off the jobs magnet, illegal entry across our borders can change from a flood to a trickle. Then the Border Patrol could concentrate on stopping terrorists and drug traffickers, and job seekers would have to get in line for one of the many LEGAL guest worker programs already on the books.

The United States already has several guest worker programs that allow employers to hire foreign workers for seasonal labor– in agriculture, in seasonal ski resorts, in landscaping, and other fields. Foreign workers are brought in for seasonal jobs where it has been demonstrated that American workers are not available — and then they go home. We even allow the hiring of year-round foreign sheep herders from Peru, Portugal and Afghanistan because, evidently, Americans will not do those jobs.

There is an important principle involved in legal guest worker programs. They are authorized only when it has been demonstrated that American workers are not available at market-based wages. Foreign workers should be SUPPLEMENTING American workers, not REPLACING them.

As a member of Congress, I sponsored a bill to allow any employer to hire a foreign worker for any job after the US Labor Department had verified that wages had been rising in that occupation for at least three successive quarters, which would be a free market demonstration of a labor shortage. If wages are flat or declining, there is no documented labor shortage.

If there are genuine labor shortages in some occupations, then by all means, let’s have a viable, LEGAL guest worker program available to employers in those fields. But that is not the case with 98 percent of the jobs now going to illegal workers. The ready availability of cheap illegal labor has been a major factor in wage stagnation over the past 20 years.

That illegal spigot must be turned off, and making the E-Verify system mandatory for all employers is the way to do it.

The E-Verify system already exists as a voluntary program administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) bureau within the Department of Homeland Security. A 2014 statement by Lori Scialabba, Obama’s Acting Director of USCIS, endorsed the program as an immense success, with over a half-million employers participating nationwide: “Since it was established, E-Verify has experienced exponential growth, increased accuracy and high customer-satisfaction ratings.” So, why hasn’t mandatory E-Verify program been adopted by Congress already? It has been included as part of some of the amnesty bills proposed over the past decade, but only as a sop to immigration enforcement, never as stand-alone legislation to fix a concrete problem.

Why not? The answer is that the E-Verify program has been opposed because the open borders lobby knows it will work. It is opposed by the US Chamber of Commerce and every other member of the coalition that supported the 2013 “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill.

Rep. Lamar Smith’s mandatory E-Verify bill, HR 1147, was approved by bipartisan committee vote in the House in 2015, but never allowed to reach the floor for an up or down vote. Sen. Grassley’s bill was considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee but similarly never allowed to get to the floor.

With Republican majorities now controlling both the House and Senate calendars, there is no valid reason not to bring these bills to a vote. Differences can be ironed out in a conference committee and a bill sent to President Trump in the first 100 days of the session.

Sadly, despite lip service paid to mandatory E-Verify by scores of Republican bill sponsors, only strong push by President Trump and his executive branch appointees can move E-Verify program to a vote in Congress. If Trump is really serious about immigration enforcement, he will make this his top priority.

The E-Verify bill will be a good test case for his White House team. Will Trump’s White House policy team prevail over the “pragmatists” who will want to wait for “congressional consensus”?

Does Trump want to fix the problem, or merely continue blaming Democrats for obstruction? In truth, on many important immigration enforcement issues, the obstruction is coming from within his own party.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-govern...tion-priority/

Tancredo was hoodwinked like a lot of people were hoodwinked about E-Verify.

Shocking: Tom Tancredo & Team America PAC Support Amnesty!?!?!



Former Congressman urges Republicans to legalize DACA, but at a price

POSTED 10:25 PM, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017, BY KEAGAN HARSHA, UPDATED AT 10:28PM, SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

DENVER -- The fate of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program now lies in the hands of Congress, but one former U.S. congressman is skeptical lawmakers will pass any significant immigration reform.

Tom Tancredo served two terms in the House of Representatives and followed that up with a run for president in 2008.

He's now watching the drama in Washington unfold from afar.

"Love to be in Congress? God, that's so hard to say," he answered when asked if he wish could help decide the fate of DACA.

Tancredo and many others say the debate over DACA isn't necessarily about immigration, but instead the way it was enacted, not by law, but by executive action.

"We can discuss the immigration side of this and what's right and wrong, but the legal side is not open for debate," he said.

"You have to be concerned about the way this was done because the precedent that was established was horrible.

"Most liberals would hate the idea of (President Donald) Trump doing a similar thing. I mean, they'd go nuts."

Tancredo said there is now a lot of pressure on Republicans and Democrats to pass immigration reform within the next six months.

"I think the president has told Congress, put up or shut up. I don't think they're going to do either," he said.

However, Tancredo believes this is a big opportunity for lawmakers, specifically Republicans.

He believes Republicans could and should legalize DACA, so long as they get something big in return.

"I don't care about the wall. Everyone says the wall. The wall is insignificant. I mean, I'm all for it, but it is not the real solution to the issue. The solution is E-verify," Tancredo said.

E-verify is the online program that verifies an employees' immigration status to make sure workers are legally employed.

He said this is an opportunity for both parties to get what they want.

"There's got to be something that happens to people negatively if they are here illegally," he said.

However, that compromise might require larger concessions than either party is willing to make.

http://kdvr.com/2017/09/05/former-co...ut-at-a-price/

I saw on the World News tonight that his employer did NOT use E-Verify. I guess he lied the first time. But still, E-Verify isn't foolproof and needs to be worked on.

Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man

I saw on the World News tonight that his employer did NOT use E-Verify. I guess he lied the first time. But still, E-Verify isn't foolproof and needs to be worked on.

They clarified they called Social Security Administration to verify the social security number. Whether they did or not, don't know. An examination of their payroll taxes withheld and paid on this employee will shed some light. They should not have hired him, and the state that issued him a state photo ID should have never issued him one, and he should have never been allowed into the country or allowed to remain here by the federal government. Much blame to go around.

Originally Posted by Judy

They clarified they called Social Security Administration to verify the social security number. Whether they did or not, don't know. An examination of their payroll taxes withheld and paid on this employee will shed some light. They should not have hired him, and the state that issued him a state photo ID should have never issued him one, and he should have never been allowed into the country or allowed to remain here by the federal government. Much blame to go around.

And you can't tell me that this employer didn't suspect that this guy was illegal. He probably suspects that everyone who works for him is illegal, but just doesn't care. He just wants cheap labor.

Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man

And you can't tell me that this employer didn't suspect that this guy was illegal. He probably suspects that everyone who works for him is illegal, but just doesn't care. He just wants cheap labor.

That's probably true. And ICE needs to rush in immediately and conduct an I-9 audit. In fact, that should be automatic policy, any illegal alien who is picked up for any crime and who has a job in the United States, should cause an immediate audit of his/her employer.

Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man

I saw on the World News tonight that his employer did NOT use E-Verify. I guess he lied the first time. But still, E-Verify isn't foolproof and needs to be worked on.

Very few things in life are 100% bullet proof. However, E-Verify is said to be more than 90% accurate. I guess any verification system can be fooled with someone else's documents, fake documents, or forged ones. To actually believe we would be better without E-Verify than we would be with it doesn't make much sense to me. We need the program nationally mandated where every business is using it, not only those that volunteer to do so. It stands to reason that those not using the program are probably the companies hiring the bulk of illegals.

Eventually people will figure out that the purpose of E-Verify is not to verify illegal aliens from work, it's to verify US citizens to work, the complete opposite of what needs to be done.

Originally Posted by Judy

Eventually people will figure out that the purpose of E-Verify is not to verify illegal aliens from work, it's to verify US citizens to work, the complete opposite of what needs to be done.

If it is capable of verifying a US Citizen to work, then what is kicked back should be classified as illegal or at least investigated, so it should work both ways.