Immigration scare tactics

Michele Waslin, Senior policy analyst, Immigration Policy Center - Washington, D.C.

It is disappointing that USA TODAY's article "Stimulus law may allow illegal workers to take jobs" relied so heavily upon data from the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). There are other experts doing credible research who would have presented a more balanced story.

CIS' estimates of the number of undocumented workers who will take stimulus jobs rely upon mischaracterizations of government projections and outdated estimates of the undocumented workforce. More important, the center's magic solution is E-Verify, an electronic work verification system that the government has found to be problematic. Government studies and independent audits have found that E-Verify is error-prone, costly and vulnerable to employer misuse.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that E-Verify does not effectively prevent unauthorized workers from obtaining jobs. Also, because we have so many undocumented immigrants, E-Verify is simply not enough. Right now, anyone with "good" fraudulent documents can get through the system, and any unscrupulous employer can simply go around the system to hire exploitable labor. E-Verify must be significantly improved before we can consider expanding it as part of a larger immigration reform.

Yes, undocumented immigration is a problem. But simply slapping an expensive Band-Aid on the problem is not a solution. In order to ensure that U.S. citizens and legal immigrants get the jobs they deserve, we must address the broken immigration system, legalize our workforce and enforce labor laws against bad-apple employers who take advantage of the broken system. Scaring us with big numbers is not a solution.

Posted at 12:09 AM/ET, March 13, 2009 in Immigration
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