Thread: FL: Path to immigration reform

Path to immigration reform

Tampa Tribune
May 5, 2011

Florida lawmakers have been more restrained than most in the fray over illegal immigration, a huge problem best solved at the federal level.

Yet legislators feel pressure from constituents to do something -- anything -- to express their extreme displeasure with Washington's inability to craft comprehensive reform.

Toward that effort, the Florida Senate yesterday passed a bill that would require taxpayer-funded workforce programs to use the federal E-Verify system to check the legal status of workers. Significantly, the bill would not force all employers to use E-Verify.

The bill, which is a step in the right direction, recognizes the bind the federal government has put on employers in Florida.

Millions of illegal immigrants have been allowed to cross the border with impunity over the past few decades.

Although many are here to work, many more are gang members and other criminals are among them.

The immigrants' children are American citizens.

How to defend the borders and what to do with illegals who have taken up residence here at a burden to Florida's legal citizens remains a top issue with voters.

And in Florida, where the agriculture, construction and hospitality industries are dependent on immigrant workers, the issue is keen.

These employers don't want to hire illegal immigrant workers, but there is no reliable and economical way to check a worker's status.

Many people here have no sympathy for those who are here illegally. Their answer is deportation.

Yet some, including recent letter writers, who happen to be farmers, lament the loss of crops because of a lack of labor.

Floridians don't want to do the back-breaking work taken on by our migrant workforce. That's why the agriculture industry and the chamber of commerce worry about an Arizona-type law that would encourage racial profiling and perhaps intimidate Florida's many legal immigrants.

The proposed legislation in Florida does not go as far as Arizona. Legislation in the House, however, would require all employers to E-Verify.

The Senate, on the other hand, wisely defeated an attempt by Sen. John Thrasher to "encourage" private employers to use E-Verify, which at $20 per employee is expensive and not always accurate. Thrasher would not have forced employers to use it, but he would have fined the employer $500 per illegal employee. E-Verify would offer an incentive: a "safe harbor" that would forgive any fine if an employer committed to hiring only legal immigrants.

But Sen. JD Alexander carried the day, advancing the proposition that only taxpayer-funded workforce programs would be required to use the E-Verify system. He expressed the frustration of every person in the room due to the inaction of the federal government.

"We're having this problem put on our shoulders, and we resent it," Alexander said. "And I resent it because we're asked to choose between hard-working people and somebody's uninformed knowledge."

The problem, he said, is that many people have been in the country for decades with tacit permission and illicit inaction from the federal government.

Alexander checks workers in his agricultural operations. But he knows most farmers don't have his resources. He managed to win over most of his colleagues with an impassioned speech. The Senate defeated Thrasher's amendment and on Wednesday quickly passed Alexander's bill. There are many good things in it.

It would allow nonviolent criminals to serve shorter sentences if they agree to be deported and would require law enforcement to make a "reasonable effort" to ascertain the immigration status after someone has been arrested. And it asks state and local agencies to determine the legality of people seeking public welfare benefits.

We hope U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio, as well as the state's congressional delegation, are paying attention. We need immigration reform that is fair to both employer and worker and to taxpayers who bear the cost of undocumented workers in America.

Lawmakers should build on Alexander's plan next session.

http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/En ... 67&start=1

Floridians don't want to do the back-breaking work taken on by our migrant workforce. That's why the agriculture industry and the chamber of commerce worry about an Arizona-type law that would encourage racial profiling and perhaps intimidate Florida's many legal immigrants.

Let's be honest here, eh? NOBODY wants to DO back-breaking labor. Illegal aliens do it because they have no choice. Should an illegal alien gain legal status, they too will refuse to do back-breaking labor. It's not rocket science to see where this will lead. The employers will continue to whine for MORE illegal alien workers.

That's one of the reasons why there should be NO amnesty, NO path to legalizing millions who are here illegally. Employers can mechanize operations, pay more for legal workers or close up shop.
So many farms, manufacturers have moved operations to mexico, so why are mexican nationals not going back for those jobs, hmm?


Legal immigrants don't need to "fear" intimidation, they have their "papers". Tell me another story, because I'm tired of hearing this same old whining.