E-Verify Update

Thursday, we told you about backroom efforts to add a destructive
amendment to a bill to reauthorize E-Verify. The proposed changes
could render the program all but worthless if they were added to the
bill. Your calls have made a difference and FAIR has confirmed that
House Members are negotiating language to reauthorize E-Verify.

Background on the Backroom Maneuver:

* E-Verify is the electronic employment authorization system
Homeland Security maintains in conjunction with the Social
Security Administration. Voluntary use of this system is growing
rapidly and states are beginning to require local contractors
and businesses to use it to help stop the employment of illegal
aliens.
* Under federal statute, E-Verify is set to expire in November.
* Should Congress fail to reauthorize the program by November, the
law that created E-Verify will expire and this vital program to
fight illegal immigration will cease to exist. Time is
running out as there are only a few weeks left to conduct
business before Congress recesses for election campaigning.
* Over the past few weeks, House Leadership planned to bring Rep.
Ken Calvert's (R-CA) bill to reauthorize E-Verify to the floor.
* Thursday, FAIR learned from a number of Capitol Hill sources
about backroom efforts to add destructive language to this bill.

* Hill staffers told us that new language, offered by Rep. Sam
Johnson (R-TX), would:

These benign-looking additions would render E-Verify inoperable if the
DHS and SSA ever fail to enter into a reimbursement agreement because
the SSA database would be unavailable to E-Verify. In other
words, a new administration would merely have to ignore the program to
shut it down, even after it had been
reauthorized.

What we know today:

* House staffers have told us that your calls have been very
effective in letting Representatives know -- in no uncertain
terms -- that you would not tolerate any destructive changes to
E-Verify.
* In one case, a staffer told us that Representatives' offices
were "freaking out" over all the calls they were
receiving.
* Your calls forced Members of Congress and their staffs to
enter into negotiations about how E-Verify will be brought to
the floor.

Thank you for all your calls. They definitely made a difference!
FAIR will continue to monitor this situation and alert you the results
of these negotiations.

Stay tuned! Your calls may be needed again!