Thread: Iowa ag secretary candidates support E-verify, penalties for businesses hiring illega

Iowa ag secretary candidates support E-verify, penalties for businesses hiring illegal workers

Erin Murphy Times Bureau 4 hrs ago

JOHNSTON --- Both candidates seeking to become Iowa’s next agriculture secretary said they support requiring businesses to use a federal database to confirm the residency status of immigrant workers and financial penalties on businesses that employ workers living in the U.S. illegally.

Republican Mike Naig and Democrat Tim Gannon discussed the issues Friday during taping for this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa Public Television.

The topic of immigrant worker policies has come into focus in Iowa after the death of Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old woman from Brooklyn, Iowa, who was allegedly murdered by an immigrant farm worker who, the state says, was living in the country illegally. The alleged killer’s employers say he gave them a false name and Social Security number in order to circumvent the federal database.

His lawyer disputes the allegations and says the alleged killer was here legally.

Immigration policy largely is the federal government’s responsibilities, but states can enact some policies.

More than 20 states require some employers to use E-Verify, the free federal database that allows employers to verify whether an individual is authorized to work in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most mandates concern only public agencies and their contractors; just nine states require all private businesses to use E-Verify, according to the NCSL.

Naig and Gannon both said Friday they would support an E-Verify mandate in Iowa.

“I think that E-Verify is the system that makes the most sense to give employers a certainty that the person they’re hiring is here legally, and as far as they can check that out, they have that certainty, then that’s what we should encourage people to use,” Gannon said.

Naig said while he supports mandating its use, E-Verify is not a catch-all solution.

“It will not address the larger labor issue that we do have. And that’s do we have a functioning, predictable system,” Naig said. “If we start to enforce our laws that we have on the books, what we will likely see is more folks wanting to use a guest worker program. That’s logical. That means we have to have a system that functions.”

Both candidates also supported fines on businesses that employ workers living in the U.S. illegally.

“Absolutely, if we have people knowingly employing illegal workers, there should be strict penalties for that,” Naig said.

Said Gannon, “Absolutely. Anyone who’s breaking the law, whether it’s the employee or the employer, should face penalties.”

https://qctimes.com/news/local/gover...1d77c77dd.html

ICE needs to raid that farm and deport all those illegals and their entire families!

No "breadwinners" get to stay!

They should not be working here illegally.

These farmers are the direct cause of this invasion and death of our citizens!