Make E-Verify Permanent
Congressman Paul Broun (R-GA) has introduced legislation, to make the E-Verify program permanent. It’s high time for this to happen. E-Verify is a key component to stopping illegal immigration by preventing illegal aliens from getting jobs. It is an Internet-based system that allows employers to access federal data bases to check the legal status of people they hire.
E-Verify is mandatory for businesses in a few states, and it is now being required for contractors doing business with the federal government. Otherwise, use of the program is voluntary. That use has grown significantly in recent years.
One problem facing the system is that authorization for E-Verify has to be renewed periodically, as it was a couple of weeks ago. It should be permanent so that businesses will be encouraged to join. They are of course less inclined to sign up if they think that the program will expire once they come to depend on it.
A big reason why E-Verify isn’t permanent is that illegal alien advocates in Congress don’t want more businesses to use it. Also, it’s likely that the temporary status of the program, allows it to be used as a bargaining chip when they apply political pressure for their goals. To illustrate, they might say, “We’ll renew E-Verify again, but only if you allow us to pass an amnesty for illegal alien farm workers.”
Rep. Broun’s legislation will put a welcome end to the prospect of such extortion and signal businesses that the program will be around as long as they want it. Another worthwhile feature of his bill is that it will allow employers to prescreen prospective employees with the system before training and paying that person. The bill also would allow employers to screen all their employees, instead of just for new hires as the present system authorizes.
In the congressman’s words, “Following the latest extension [of E-Verify] , there is no better time to strengthen the electronic employment verification system and finally make it permanent. Illegal immigration continues to threaten our homeland security and economic security. Since the last several sessions of Congress failed to come to a consensus [on immigration], we should take advantage of incremental reforms with proven success.”