570 city and county government agencies in Georgia could lose millions of dollars in state loans and grants due to noncompliance with a state immigration law requirement. The agencies have failed to certify that they and their contractors use E-Verify for vetting the workplace eligibility of new hires.
Oh, how things have changed in just a few years. Today, the House of Representatives approved, with almost unanimous support, a bill that extends E-Verify for another 3 years. The electronic employment verification program, which NumbersUSA believes would have the biggest impact in ending the flow of illegal immigration to the United States, is set to expire at the end of the month, but, now that it's passed through both chambers of Congress, we fully expect Pres. Obama to sign the extension into law.
(Editor's Note: USA Today's main editorial this morning castigates the Republican platform for its support for various immigration enforcement, saying it is anti-Hispanic and drives Hispanic voters away from Republican candidates. USA Today generously asked NumbersUSA President Roy Beck to write an op-ed giving a very different point of view. Check out the debate.)
Today marks the start of the month-long recess in Congress. Things may be slowing down here in Washington, but around the country some lawmakers have a busy few weeks planned. August is prime time for town hall meetings. Everyday I send out alerts for town halls, mobile office hours, and campaign events. Little may be going on in Washington, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make an impact this month.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett (R) signed into law The Public Works Employment Verification Act (Act No.127), which requires all public works contractors and subcontractors with the state to enroll in and use E-Verify for newly hired employees. The law will take effect January 1, 2013.
The Milford, Mass. town council voted unanimously this week to join the ICE Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers (IMAGE) program. A partnership with ICE under IMAGE helps public and private sector employers to avoid hiring illegal aliens and maintain legal work forces.
The Pennsylvania House passed two measures (Senate Bills 637 and 9) designed to shut off jobs and public benefits for illegal aliens. The bills now return to the Senate for concurrence votes. Legislators anticipate they will be sent to the governor for signature.
In all the analysis of whether Arizona or Pres. Obama came out on top in the Supreme Court’s ruling on S.B. 1070 today, the key question is: how well did unemployed Americans fare? And the answer is: Very well.
Freshman Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) has cosponsored Chairman Lamar Smith's Legal Workforce Act (H.R.2885) that would require 100% of businesses to use E-Verify within two years. The bill also requires all federal, state, and local governments to E-Verify their entire workforce.
The immigration strategy announced by Mitt Romney today provided a lot of reasons for hope among most American workers -- especially for Hispanic Americans -- but troubling news for the country's students and workers in high-skill fields.
Frederick County Maryland’s reputation for cracking down on illegal immigration has drawn the ire of pro-illegal alien groups and prompted one to name County Board President Blaine Young to its “Hall of Shame” for 2012. But that reputation has not hurt the area’s business climate or Young’s political prospects.
On May 25th, the Massachusetts Senate passed several immigration enforcement measures as part of state budget legislation. It’s likely that most of these provisions will clear the legislature since many were included in the version the House passed.
ABC Professional Tree Services, based in Houston, Texas, has agreed to pay $2 million in fines after a Department of Homeland Security investigation found that the company had been hiring illegal-alien workers. DHS found that 30% of the company's workforce was made up of illegal aliens. The company agreed to pay the fines in lieu of criminal charges.
Last week, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) delivered a speech on the Senate floor calling for an end to the Child Tax Care loophole that allows illegal aliens to receive thousands of dollars in tax refunds by filing with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. Sen. Sessions also criticized the administration's refusal to include mandatory E-Verify provisions in any of its jobs bills.
Put three of this month's big immigration stories together, add a critical statistic missing from all of them and you get a powerful argument for passing the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885).
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement hosted a hearing on Wednesday titled “Document Fraud in Employment Authorization: How an E-Verify Requirement Can Help." The hearing featured the testimony of Jennifer Andrushko who found out two years ago that the Social Security number of her 5-year-old son has been being used for more than a decade by an illegal alien for the purposes of employment.
The House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement held a hearing yesterday on Document Fraud in Employment Authorization and How an E-Verify Requirement Can Help. Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) made a statement during the hearing about the growth of the underground market for fraudulent identification documents as a result of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 which requires employers to check the immigration status of an employee.
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) has co-sponsored the bipartisan SAVE Act introduced by Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.). The SAVE Act would mandate E-Verify nationwide and increase both border security and interior enforcement.
Rep. Graves represents Missouri's 6th Congressional District. He is serving his sixth term in Congress and has a career A- grade.
The Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah lost about 10 percent of its 580 member workforce after a federal audit found these employees were ineligible to work in the United States.
"The audit, conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, was random and the luxury hotel was given three days’ notice before the action. The audit was completed April 3," hotel spokeswoman Sara Myers told The Salt Lake Tribune.
While Republican leaders of the House continue to block a vote on a national mandatory E-Verify bill, the Obama Administration has issued a statement that it is getting E-Verify ready to handle a big expansion. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is planning to launch a 2012 Web User Survey that will be used "in anticipation of the enactment of mandatory state and/or national eligibility verification programs for all or a substantial number of employers."
Roy Beck is founder and president of NumbersUSA. He recalls that Boehner and other Republicans had campaigned in 2010 to do a better job of tackling the illegal alien problem.
Our webcast on Thursday focused on the almost humorous aspect of 11 anti-enforcement states complaining to the Supreme Court that Arizona's immigration enforcement laws are too successful.
Rhode Island lawmakers are considering two E-Verify bills designed to prevent the hiring of illegal aliens in the state. The bills, introduced by Peter Palumbo (D-Dist. 16, Cranston), are scheduled for hearings held by the House Committee on Labor at the Statehouse tonight.
Two Florida counties - Orange and Lake - now require companies to check new hires using the E-Verify system before awarding them a county-funded project. Orange County is the fifth largest county in Florida and the 35th largest county in the United States.
Last week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor launched a new citizen tool on his leadership website that was the subject of our weekly webcast. The Citizen Cosponsor Project allows citizens to show their support for legislation in Congress by using their Facebook account. But currently, Leader Cantor excludes a popular mandatory E-Verify bill from his website.
The Kansas House of Representatives sent a bill back to committee after it was amended to require state agencies and most employers that do business with the state to use E-Verify. The amendment would have required any business with a state contract worth more than $50,000 to use the workplace verification system.
In an op-ed in The Washington Times Representative Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, writes that Congress needs to step up and pass mandatory E-Verify. Gallegly writes that by mandating E-Verify in passing the Legal Workforce Act, jobs would open up for millions of American workers while removing counterfeiting and fraud from the hiring process.
The Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Alejandro Mayorkas told the Washington Times that the E-Verify workplace verification system can handle many more requests than it currently does. The agency, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, oversees the E-Verify system. Currently, only companies that contract with the federal government and a employers in a handful of states are mandated to use E-Verify.
Apparently desiring a tradeoff of being exempted from using E-Verify or to having their illegal workers amnestied, a Big Ag coalition is pressuring Congress to make sure a mandatory E-Verify bill doesn't come to the House floor for a vote. And its big concern this week is that NumbersUSA's national ad campaign may be influencing some House leaders in a different direction.
Members of Congress and their staffers started the day with one of Washington's daily newspapers blaring at the top of Page One: "E-Verify group to pressure Boehner with ads -- Says speaker has stalled House vote." By late this afternoon, Speaker Boehner's office was proclaiming his loyalty to E-Verify and pointing fingers at committee chairmen for keeping the bill from a floor vote. A lot of phone calling from voters in between played a major role.
This television ad will run across the country in March asking why House Speaker John Boehner won't allow a House vote on E-Verify. Viewers are urged to call Speaker Boehner and ask him to allow a vote on mandatory E-Verify. A recent poll conducted by Pulse Opinion Research found that 78% of Americans want a national workplace verification system as a way to address the issue of illegal immigration.
Applicants for business licenses in Salt Lake County, UT will have to provide written assurance that they have used E-Verify to guarantee the legal working status of their employees.
All three Republican candidates who won all 10 state Republican Primaries tonight support national mandatory E-Verify to take jobs from illegal aliens and put millions of unemployed Americans back to work. But the House Republican leadership won't bring a mandatory E-Verify bill to the floor because they apparently think it would hurt Republican chances of winning the presidency in the fall? What's wrong with this picture?
What do you call an American who denies another American a job because they would rather hire an illegal alien? Would calling them a racist be appropriate? How about a xenophobe or bigot? Maybe those words are too strong - you can be the judge - but let me start with a story that happened in New Jersey just a few weeks ago.
Rep. Doug Lamborn has joined NumbersUSA's 5-for-5 Club after cosponsoring the Nuclear Priority Act, which would end Chain Migration. Rep. Lamborn has now cosponsored at least one bill in each of our 5 Great Immigration-Reduction categories and joins 14 other Members of Congress to cosponsor a bill in each of the categories.
In Arizona where immigration was near the top of voter concerns, the candidate who “owned” the E-Verify issue was bound to benefit. While many pundits claimed Romney’s robust advocacy of national mandatory E-Verify was a blunder that somehow put him on the political fringe, the Arizona election results tonight and a new national poll show him to be identifying with overwhelming majorities of virtually every type of American.
The Department of Homeland Security has opened up its E-Verify Self Check tool to all 50 states. The easy-to-use, online tool allows U.S. citizens and legal immigrants to check their own employment eligibility through the E-Verify system. Watch our short video presentation showing how to use it . . .
Roy, Chris, and Andrew demonstrate the E-Verify Self Check system and discuss the ongoing grade cards faxing campaign.
A bill that would require employers in Iowa to use E-Verify passed through an Iowa House Committee on Tuesday. HF 2156 was offered by Rep. Julian Garrett and passed through the Committee mostly along party lines.
A judge upheld part a Fremont, Nebraska 2010 ordinance that require all employers to use the federal E-Verify database to ensure employees are legal.
U.S. District Judge Laurie Smith Camp rejected another part of the ordinance that would have denied housing permits to illegal immigrants.
U.S. Customs and Immigration Services has expanded its E-Verify self-check tool from 21 test states to all 50 states. Self Check is a free online service that allows individuals to check their worker eligibility status before applying for a new job.
HB 2568, a bill designed to prevent a growing number of Washington State local governments from requiring employers to use E-Verify, appears to have died. Washington State NumbersUSA members and other citizens strongly opposed to the measure had pounded House Democrats with calls asking for its defeat.
New Data from the Department of Homeland Security show the participation of businesses and worksites that use E-Verify by state. The data show that states with a high number of businesses that contract with the federal government and states that have passed mandatory E-Verify laws, including Arizona, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina, have the highest number of businesses using the online employee verification tool.
NumbersUSA's Top 10 Immigration-Reduction Grades for 2011 belong to U.S. Representatives whose efforts would have shone in any Congress. But they looked particularly stellar in relation to the abject immigration failures of the House Republican leadership.
Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) has cosponsored Chairman Lamar Smith's Legal Workforce Act (H.R.2885) that would require 100% of businesses to use E-Verify within two years. The bill also requires all federal, state, and local governments to E-Verify their entire workforce.
A new billboard produced by Floridians for Immigration Control calls out Gov. Rick Scott (R) for the state's failure to adopt an E-Verify law.
The billboard "welcomes" illegal immigrants and sarcastically thanks Governor Scott and is along I-75's southbound lanes between the Georgia border and Interstate 10, reported by Sunshine State News.
Voters in Springfield, Mo. approved a measure requiring employers to use E-Verify to determine the workplace eligibility of new hires, KSPR reported. Proponents placed the ordinance on the ballot after the City Council rejected an E-Verify proposal.
