Thread: E-Verify Is Working. That’s Why It’s Threatened In Court

E-Verify Is Working. That’s Why It’s Threatened In Courts And Congress.
By Marcus Epstein

As immigration has become a hot topic in the last few years, immigration reform patriots have had an enormous amount of success in blocking bad legislation. In addition to defeating two "comprehensive immigration reform" bills, we’ve also defeated the DREAM Act and AgJobs on multiple occasions.

But stopping amnesty is only the first step. We also need to get all the illegals out of the country (to say nothing of stopping legal immigration). Though no national legislation has been passed, there has been some progress in cracking down and preventing employers from hiring illegal aliens through E-Verify—the internet-based system that allows employers to determine whether an employee is legal within seconds.

The core of illegal aliens come to this country for jobs, so if you cut off the jobs, they will leave. This is the cornerstone to the "attrition" strategy supported by most of the patriotic immigration reform movement.

Laws banning the employment of illegal aliens have been on the books for over twenty years. But they had barely been enforced until very recently. Part of the problem has been intentional neglect on the part of the federal government (G.W. Bush, President). But here are legitimate logistical difficulties in stopping illegal immigration.

Illegal aliens can easily acquire fake IDs. It is up to the employers to discern whether or not the IDs are legitimate. To make matters worse, the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which made it illegal to hire illegal aliens, also created anti-discrimination laws that banned—among other things—"Document abuse discrimination". Employers can now be sued for overly scrutinizing the documents of Hispanics.

E-verify takes care of these problems by immediately checking if the Social Security numbers supplied by an employee or applicant.

Some libertarians will object to this on privacy grounds. But it is much less invasive than any other alternative. The Social Security numbers are only matched through the E-verify system and will not be shared with any other federal agency or other third party. Furthermore, this will obviate the perceived need by many for a National ID Card.

E-Verify was started in 1997. But it is only recent years that it has actually been implemented on a large scale. Arizona, South Carolina, Mississippi, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Utah have all passed legislation requiring some or all businesses to use it. Heath Shuler’s SAVE Act, currently perhaps the most viable immigration restriction act, would mandate the program nationwide. In the pigs flying category: President Bush recently signed an executive order requiring all federal contractors to use the system.

Arizona has the most stringent laws, under which all employers are required to use the system. Before the law even went in effect, there were headlines like "Crackdown has illegal immigrants leaving Arizona." [The Arizona Republic, December 19, 2007]. The law has been in effect since March. All sides admit that there has been a dramatic exodus of illegals out of the state. A recent PBS report interviewed State Rep Russell Pearce who authored the law, and various businesses and local immigrants. Here are some highlights:

Pearce: I have not seen any actual caravans, but we've been told they're leaving by the droves. We've seen businesses shut down. We've seen businesses that cater to illegal aliens impacted. And I've been told that, when the school year is out, you're going to see thousands more leave.

Also interviewed:

Alberto Games, Restaurant Manager (through translator): Our customers are mostly Mexicans. And Mexicans here in Phoenix, most of them are illegal. So if you're opening up a business to serve that community, you're going to be limited.

[Narrator]: But at one Phoenix institution servicing immigrants, business is up. At the Mexican consulate, Mexicans moving back across the border come to get their papers in order.

All of this progress is under assault on two fronts: the Courts and Congress.

The ACLU, MALDEF, and the National Immigration Law Center are suing to overturn the Arizona law on behalf of two groups called Chicanos Por La Causa and Somos America.

What is their objection? As usual, “ racial profiling.â€

E-verify takes care of these problems by immediately checking if the Social Security numbers supplied by an employee or applicant.

Some libertarians will object to this on privacy grounds. But it is much less invasive than any other alternative.

I guess when you have freedom of speech you also have multitudinous babbling idiots.

The very bottom line is whether our society should tolerate an ever-swelling population. This is the theme of the most influential restrictionist group, NumbersUSA. It is such a foundational argument that anyone who feels uncomfortable with increased crowding and congestion should immediately be able to connect the two. And it should also torpedo the so called "Progressive" argument, which blithely ignores that nearly every choice they make propels us that much closer to an unmanageable society crushed under the weight of hundreds of millions of newcomers.

Certain vested interest groups (shortsighted) are now telling us we must plan for these population increases. We've got them around here, with all of their (federally funded) 'growth management' schemes----not that any of those will make for a permanent solution. As more people are brought in to work on those projects there will be more families settling in the area-----and then a new round of growth management schemes will ensue.

E-Verify does work, remarkably well, that is why illegals and their supporters are fighting so hard against it.

The recent ruling by a judge in Idaho, reinstating jobs to janitors who were fired because their social security numbers were "mismatched", indicates how the government will take the teeth out of any e-verify system.
What good will it do if the employer is obligated by law NOT to fire a worker with an invalid social security number?

There are common sense ways to make it work without penalizing legal workers. Give them up to 3 months to make a personal appearance at the local Social Security office. The SS office gives the worker a notice for his employer that the case is being investigated, or in process of being corrected. Then allow 3 more months for the "error" to be corrected by the worker and SS. After 6 months, if the case is not corrected, the worker will need legal representation to prove his legal status in a court of law. The employer would not be obligated to employ the worker after 6 months.
Simply providing a process that legal workers can use to verify status will scare off those who have no proof to offer. How many would want to appear before a judge knowing they were here illegally?

OOps, got my cases mixed up. The janitor case was in Los Angeles.
The judge ordered the jobs be reinstated with back pay. No indication if anything was required of the workers to "fix" the social security number mismatch.