E-Verify bill goes to committee markup

E-Verify bill goes to committee markup
By Gautham Nagesh - 09/13/11 04:30 PM ET

The House Judiciary Committee will mark up a bill from Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) on Thursday morning that would require all U.S. employers to use E-Verify, the Department of Homeland Security system that checks whether new hires are eligible to work in the United States.

Smith called on President Obama to make E-Verify part of his jobs plan on Monday, arguing the law could open up millions of jobs for legal residents as the unemployment remains above 9 percent. The program checks candidates' Social Security numbers against a federal database to verify they are allowed to work in the U.S.

“A federal E-Verify requirement is needed now more than ever," Smith said in a statement sent to The Hill.

"Nearly 14 million Americans can’t find work but at the same time seven million illegal immigrants work in the U.S. Congress should pass the Legal Workforce Act and the President should sign it into law — unemployed Americans can’t wait any longer.”

Federal contractors are already required to use E-Verify, which Smith characterized as a simple, straightforward way to ensure employers aren't hiring illegal aliens for open jobs in an op-ed published Tuesday in The Hill.

"The 'E' in E-Verify could just as well stand for 'easy' and 'effective.' It takes only one to two minutes to use per new hire and immediately confirms 99.5 percent of work-eligible employees," Smith said.

"Even though E-Verify is not mandatory, many businesses voluntarily use the program. Nearly 290,000 American employers use E-Verify and an average of 1,300 new businesses sign up each week," he said.

While Smith noted that the vast majority — 99.5 percent — of individuals are immediately confirmed as eligible to work, the remaining half-percent remain a major concern for groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union that oppose making E-Verify mandatory. While a portion of those cases are ineligible workers, DHS has also previously acknowledged that some workers are erroneously rejected initially and must petition to have their status reviewed. Critics argue those workers are essentially barred from working through no fault of their own, until DHS corrects the error.

But the program has a long list of supporters, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Restaurant Association and the National Association of Home Builders. The bill has met stiff resistance from agricultural producers, who rely heavily on illegal labor to harvest fruits and vegetables.
Comments (9)


WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

The republicans are going to use this as a way to tell voters that Obama does not care about the unemployed. It is a smart move to demand that it be attached to the jobs bill, that way we get nothing in return. I do not think Dream act would have a chance of passing, even along with E-verify.

WTF , the usual scapegoating, blame us for their uselessness , we don't take any jobs away, we are just more qualified, live it , learn it, love it, !

The DA can be easily attached to it as well. They can argue that it will help pay for the US deficit. Plus, its not that easy to attach the eVerify bill without repercussions from major companies and farm owners without some kind of compromise. Companies will lose millions of dollars by letting go of low wage workers to try and hire lower skilled workers getting paid double what they pay undocumented immigrants.

thats exactly why they dont want us to be legalized.. its bad enough that a USC cant find a minimum wage job.. but can you imagine, if we all got legalized.. we will be taking not only the minimum wage jobs but also the high end jobs because YES we're MORE qualified than these lazy ass USC bums..

Actually the requirements under DA will allow you to only take jobs away from lazy ass USC. That will tremendously help the economy. DA recipients are young and the US can definitely benefit from us especially with the baby boomers going into retirement drying out Social Security.

I honestly think that the main reason there are 14 million unemployed is that the ones that are on unemployment refuse to get jobs that pay less than the unemployment checks coming in. I've been seeing that with the people i know that are on unemployment and it pisses me off soooo much because those numbers are screwing us over. Is it so hard for them to get off their lazy asses and go do some farm work? or are they too good for that? They want jobs, then take the ones our people do...go ahead. They're there and they're there in abundance.

I know a girl that is currently collecting unemployment for that reason. She says she is too good to work at McDonald's or anywhere else that pays minimum wage, so she sits at home and collects a check. She goes to the club every other night, drives a brand new car, travels back and forth between Atlanta & Miami and yet, she has no college degree. I'm not saying that's the case for everyone out there, but I know not everyone in that 14 million is actively looking for a job.

It's easy for Americans to scapegoat us when in actuality they wouldn't even dream of doing what some of us and our parents do for a living. But, it's okay. If they pass E-Verify, I'm sure the USCs that are out of work will be scrambling to apply at the chicken plants and farms that won't have the workers they need.

YOU GUYS SHOULD CHECK THIS LINK OUT.. its about how the E-verify will only complicate things and it will cost the country more money.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issu...y_numbers.html

Americans love their cheap labor. No one in this country is willing to pay full price for anything, and that is why everything is outsourced and they complain about nothing is made in America anymore.