Thread: Chertoff criticizes latest immigration amendment

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 07312.html

June 20, 2007, 11:31PM
Chertoff criticizes latest immigration amendment
It would ease rule making employers ensure they hire only legal workers

WASHINGTON — As the controversial immigration overhaul heads back to the Senate floor, the Bush administration is raising a red flag about efforts to make the bill's enforcement linchpin less burdensome for employers.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff strongly has urged senators to reject an amendment that would ease the requirement that employers ensure they are hiring only legal workers. Jobs in the U.S. are the chief magnet that has drawn an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

The amendment, by GOP Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Barack Obama of Illinois, would be "a serious step backward in our enforcement effort," Chertoff wrote in a letter to the immigration deal's top architects.

The amendment, he added, "unfortunately fuels public skepticism about whether enforcement will work or political forces will frustrate serious efforts to bring employers into compliance with the law."


Privacy, error concerns
The three senators rejected Chertoff's accusations as "erroneous and misleading."

"We strongly support creating an effective, mandatory employment verification system for all employers to verify the legal status of their workers," the trio wrote. "But the design, implementation and oversight of the system as proposed in the pending immigration bill are flawed in several respects."

The deal negotiated by about a dozen senators, from both parties with input from Chertoff, would require the nation's

7 million employers to verify the identity of all 143 million U.S. workers by matching identity documents against an electronic government database.

But employers, labor unions and privacy advocates alike are battling such a requirement in part because the electronic employment verification system would be based on an error-prone database that some employers already are using voluntarily. Critics fear employers and workers could be ensnared by a flawed system — with serious consequences for both.

"We don't think it's going to work," said Mike Aitken, director of governmental affairs for the Society for Human Resources Management.

The mandate "is going to touch every employer and every employee in the United States," he said. "This is a significant impact on the work force, and I'm not sure folks are really looking at what the pros and cons are."


'Business as usual'
Instead of checking all U.S. workers within a three-year period, the amendment would require employers to check only new hires or in cases where document fraud is suspected — a goal Aitken's group supports.

Chertoff also bristled at the amendment's proposed five-year limitation on allowing the Department of Homeland Security to use Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service databases to ferret out illegal workers.

Such a plan "tells unscrupulous employers that, after five years, when the government agencies stop talking to each other, they can return to business as usual, employing unauthorized workers," he wrote.

The senators countered that the use of the federal data for immigration enforcement purposes is "highly suspect." Rogue employers, they argue, would go underground and stop filing federal tax withholding forms for illegal workers.

Chertoff spokesman Russ Knocke declined to say whether the administration would pull its support for the immigration overhaul if the verification standards are weakened.

I have seen no credible figures that basic pilot is not working. Until I do it is businessess big lie. Colorado Chamers of Comerce and NFIB told that lie to the Colorado State legislature and a Basic pilot initiative was defeated here.

Anybody have some reliable figures

Sure, he can b*tch and moan when he thinks a proposed measure is too soft, but when we do the same we are called racists and restrictionists. Now he knows he we feel every time he and his traitor boss open their lying mouths.

The amendment, by GOP Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Barack Obama of Illinois, would be "a serious step backward in our enforcement effort," Chertoff wrote in a letter to the immigration deal's top architects.

Now that's the joke of the day. "A serious step backwards in our enforcement effort"!!

Who told him to say THAT ONE?!!

We're all real sure that Mr. Bush (I prefer not to give him the title of president anymore), is real concerned about "enforcement efforts".

Yup, uhuh, sure thing, right.

With 12 to 20 million illegals in the United States, we've never even heard George Bush utter a word in public on TV about enforcement of laws in 6 and 1/2 years.
How about the other day when he encouraged illegal aliens to call our senators.

He is such a disaster of a president. In all seriousness can you really even call him a president?!! If you ask me, I don't see where he's much better than Hugo Chavez.

In all honesty, what's the difference between the two?

He's been aiding and abetting illegal aliens since he's been in office.

No one is willing to defend him anymore.

He'd sign anything. He's a lier. He's a cheat. He's just as corrupt as the politicians in Mexico are.

And the Democrats are just using him and he is using them too.

They're using each other.

Please senators who are REALLY senators to the people of the United States, please do not fall for their deception.

America cannot afford to have senators who are acting naive right now.

THINK, LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE and DO THE RIGHT THING.

Please, Senators, from BOTH PARTIES, please do what is right for the American people, please do not let us down.

Yea Right.... Old Mikey is a joke... He is just a hack that gets a check from El-Bush.....

Don't forget El-Bush called the Minute Men "Vigilantes"...

This is a ploy by the Bush Admin to make it seem like they are for tough enforcement. THIS IS A RUSE. Bush is all for making it easy for his business buddies to fleece the American Public/middleclass.

Originally Posted by Jrhino

I have seen no credible figures that basic pilot is not working. Until I do it is businessess big lie. Colorado Chamers of Comerce and NFIB told that lie to the Colorado State legislature and a Basic pilot initiative was defeated here.

Anybody have some reliable figures

I'll try and find more. I posted a good article on the database here:

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?nam...=393578#393578

Error-prone databases disrupt Basic Pilot
Crucial upgrades planned for widely used program
04/25/07 -- 06:07 PM

By Alice Lipowicz

Employer participation is rapidly increasing in the Homeland Security Department’s Employment Eligibility Verification program even though the federal databases used continue to be riddled with errors and have difficulty communicating with each other, according to testimony presented to a House subcommittee on Tuesday.

The 10-year-old program, known as Basic Pilot, is a voluntary program that allows participating employers to check employee credentials against Social Security Administration databases to verify that an employee is eligible to work in the United States. The system was used in 2004 by about 2,300 employers.

The number of participating employers has increased dramatically in recent months, and the department is spending $114 million on upgrades this year, Jonathan R. Scharfen, deputy director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law.

“In 2006, the number of employers doubled,â€