Tuesday, March 03, 2009

There goes E-Verify

Last October, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) reported on the "E-Verify" program:

Put into place in 1996, E-Verify is a voluntary program run by the Department of Homeland Security that uses an automated internet-based system to check every new employee’s information against more than 500 million records in Social Security and DHS databases. It’s fast, easy and free for businesses to use and it means that businesses don’t have to be document experts. Over 70,000 employers are using it and 1,000 are joining every week. Nationwide, 1 in 10 new hires are screened using it and it is 99.5 accurate.


In "Immigration apparently not high on Obama's priority list," (2/28/09), Vanderbilt University Professor Carol Swain tells us the state of E-Verify today:

There are an estimated 6 to 7 million illegal immigrants working in low-wage, low-skill positions that could be filled with U.S-born workers with high school educations or less. A detailed breakdown of U.S. Census unemployment data released by the Center for Immigration Studies reveals startling levels of unemployment for U.S.-born blacks and Hispanics without a high school education. Blacks had a 24.7 percent unemployment rate and Hispanics were at 16.2 percent. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for legal and illegal immigrants without a high school education was 10.6 percent. ... Instead of expanding and protecting American jobs, the president allowed Senate Democrats to strip two E-Verify provisions from the stimulus bill. ...

The program is scheduled to expire unless Senate Democrats reauthorize the program by March 6. Not only should the program be reauthorized, it should be made mandatory for all employers. We can aggressively tackle unemployment by taking simple steps to ensure that American workers are protected from illegal competition from those unauthorized to work in this country.

Our rising health-care costs and educational burdens are all impacted by the presence of large numbers of undocumented and unauthorized residents who make it more difficult for hard-working Americans to enjoy some of the benefits of living in a nation that used to be one of the greatest in the world.

1 comment:

John Sobieski said...

Today the Senata voted mostly up and down for only a 6mo extension. Few Republican traitors, few Democrats crossing over. Sad. over 50 Senators voted for only a 6 mo extension. As you state, the goal of everify is to make sure only legal applicants can get jobs, not those who trespass our border and commit fraud. But the majority in the Senate sided with making sure illegal immigrants are not identified. Some days you believe they are all traitors.