Florida business leaders oppose E-Verify immigration bill

Business leaders oppose a bill that would require employers nationwide to verify employees’ immigration status.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/05/2 ... ppose.html

By ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@ElNuevoHerald.com

If Congress passes a law mandating that private businesses verify the immigration status of employees, the requirement could disrupt or wreck certain businesses including Florida’s farms and hospitality industry, which thrives on international tourism, according to business leaders from several states, including Florida.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, recently introduced a bill that would require employers nationwide to verify whether new hires are legally in the country and eligible to work through a federal Internet-based system known as E-Verify.

If Smith’s bill were to become law, a remote possibility since the Senate is controlled by Democrats, it would be the first time private businesses nationwide would be compelled to check employees’ immigration status. Until now, E-Verify has been voluntary at a national level.

The Legislature in May attempted to enact a statewide E-Verify program that, under one amendment, would have required all state agencies to use the system to check immigration status of employees. But the E-Verify portion of the bill failed after an impassioned plea by Sen. JD Alexander.

The Central Florida farmer suggested that the E-Verify requirement could have wrecked the state’s farming, hotel and construction industries because it would make it difficult to find workers since few U.S. citizens want those jobs.

“Americans don’t want to do it,â€