Friends, it is essential that the E-Verify program be re-authorized immediately and without any strings that might later strangle it.
Earlier today, there were signs that supporters of illegal foreign workers were trying to attach just those kinds of strings, and we're happy to report that negotiations seem to be back on track for a clean re-authorization.
Missouri Governor Matt Blunt signed into law today legislation that will make it harder for illegal aliens living in the state to receive benefits and harder to find jobs.
The new legislations requires all public employers to use the E-Verify system to verify the legality of a potential employee and requires and individual to prove their citizenship status before receiving state benefits such as food stamps and housing. The bill also punishes those localities that adopt policies to not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
"Kris Stuebner, director of administration for the Fresno-based JEM, said the company started using the system because of the concern over hiring a legal work force. "We wanted to do the right thing," Stuebner said.
And while the system allows the company to check an employee's work status by quickly verifying a person's Social Security number and name, it's not without challenges, said Stuebner, who attended a seminar about E-Verify on Tuesday. The event, held at the Piccadilly Inn in Fresno, was sponsored by the California Employers Association...."
ARIZONA/MEXICO BORDER -- "We're seeing a lot more babies crossing through here now," Barbara Barnett told me, as we sat on her patio looking out over her and her husband Roger's geologically dramatic, sprawling desert cattle ranch.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Ia.) recently introduced legislation (S. 3093) that would reauthorize the E-Verify program. Grassley's legislation also makes several improvements to the program.
Sen Grassley said, "Nobody could have imagined the sophistication of the documents that illegal aliens use to work in the United States,
On June 6, President Bush signed an executive order requiring Federal contractors to use E-Verify, a free, Internet-based system that enables employers to check an employee’s eligibility to work in the U.S. within seconds.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will now propose regulations to implement the order, which requires federal contractors to use E-Verify when they start work under new government contracts or hire new workers under existing contracts.
The House Democratic leadership continued its assault on immigration enforcement at a May 6 House Ways & Means Subcommittee hearing on the SAVE Act (H.R. 4088).
The SAVE Act is the middle-ground answer to the illegal immigration issue. This not only will be the most effective solution, but it is what polls show most Americans want. When given the choice among (a) mass roundups and mass deportations, (b) mass legalizations, and (c) Attrition Through Enforcement & Self Deportation, the public chooses the middle-ground Attrition option.
The bi-partisan SAVE Act was introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) in the House and Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) in the Senate. It is one of our "5 Great Immigration Reduction Bills".
NumbersUSA's Capitol Hill Team is hearing numerous reports and seeing signs indicating that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is negotiating to give millions of American jobs to foreign workers.
NumbersUSA Founder and CEO Roy Beck has analyzed and ranked all presidential candidates based on the campaign promises they have made and their past actions in elected office. NumbersUSA encourages all candidates to turn away from bad or poor positions of the past, and asks concerned voters to encourage them in working towards "true" immigration reform solutions that don't reward illegal aliens. Per our policy, candidates will be rewarded with improved ratings when they adopt the preferences of the majority of Americans for far less overall immigration.
"'The No. 1 reason people come here illegally is for jobs, and if employers are able to continue to employ illegal aliens we will continue to have an influx of illegal aliens,' said Caroline Espinosa, a spokeswoman for NumbersUSA, a Washington nonprofit that lobbies for limiting immigration..."
Miami Herald
"'We'd like to see mandatory employment verification in any bill that passes,' Caroline Espinosa of Numbers USA told BNA. 'We'll take it any way we can get it.' Describing her group as an "immigration reduction organization," Espinosa said that the goal of reducing the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. could be achieved by 'attrition through mandatory enforcement...'"
Bureau of National Affairs Daily Labor Report; April 16, 2007
