House committee passes E-Verify after two days of debate

[pampango]

Source: Cronkite News

A House committee Wednesday approved a bill to require that every business in the country use the E-Verify system to determine if prospective hires are authorized workers or undocumented immigrants.

The House Judiciary Committee vote followed two days of debate in two different weeks and was split along party lines, with 13 Democrats opposing and all 22 Republicans voting for the “Legal Workforce Act.” A vote by the full House had not been scheduled as of Wednesday evening.

Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Phoenix, said the country needs to eliminate the incentives “that are enticing people to cross (the border) illegally.” One of them is employers who are willing and wanting to hire illegal workers. “Having it (E-Verify) applied across the states, it’s the right way to go,” said Quayle, a member of the committee.

Philip Wolgin, an immigration policy analyst for the Washington-based Center for American Progress, said the center fears that American citizens might mistakenly be identified as unauthorized workers. He also added that the bill sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, does not deal with the estimated millions of undocumented immigrants living in this country.

Read more: http://cronkitenewsonline.com/2011/09/house-committee-passes-e-verify-after-two-days-of-debate/

[msongs]

1. e-verify soon to be followed by e-fraud. just like e-voting, unproveable or manageable nt

[demosincebirth]

2. Many repub businsess owners don't like it. Especially the mega farmers out

here in California.

[devils chaplain]

12. Reublican business owners and politicians essentially killed it in Florida...

Cheap, imported, off-the-books labor is good for business.

[demosincebirth]

14. You bet!

[Cool Logic]

3. It seems like it would be a no-brainer; however...

we are talking about the fedgov. And they mismanage and mis-administer nearly everything they are involved in.

[No Elephants]

16. LOL!

[customerserviceguy]

4. I'm all for it

American jobs for American workers. If Congress wants to pass a guest worker program for the jobs citizens won't do, let them put forth that law. Until then, I don't support the charade that attracts illegal workers, who benefit wealthy farmers and businesspeople, at the expense of the surrounding communities.

[pasto76]

6. WTF you mean, "jobs americans wont do"? Thats a load of bullshit

there isnt a single job out there that an american wont do. That McCain bullshit about how an "american" wont go out and pick tomatoes or whatever is was, was pure bullshit.

The truth is that an american wont go pick produce for slave wages, and a job environment that gives no workers rights.

Livable wages. A safe work environment. Watch the lines grow at the application office.

The root of any illegal worker problem are the fucktards who hire them.

[customerserviceguy]

9. Frankly, I really don't think there's a whole lot of them

I suppose that many Americans are not willing to do stoop farm labor, but if it paid a decent wage, they would.

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that we should start creating exceptions; we should give E-Verify a chance to see if there really are jobs that go begging for applicants, if a fair market wage is offered.

[Occulus]

11. "the jobs citizens won't do"

REPUBLICAN TALKING POINT.

[customerserviceguy]

18. Please, I was trying to mock the Rethugs

I guess I didn't do a good job of it.

[No Elephants]

15. Pass a law about jobs citizens won't do? Is anyone going to interview

all citizens in the area to find out if they won't do the job?

The real issues are minimum wage and fair wages. If a job is so back breaking that an American won't do it for $2 an hour or "piece work," then maybe the employer should pay a fair amount for that work. And maybe they should stop paying for things picked by five year old kids, too.

Call me a dreamer.

Food prices would go up, but at least we could eat with a clear conscience. Well, that's not really true, either, because the Social Security cost of living adjustment formula does not include the price of food.

The evil inherent in our system due to greed is everywhere.

[customerserviceguy]

19. I do believe in a fair market wage for jobs

If that proves to be too much, then somebody will invent a machine to do the job cheaper. Hiring illegal labor simply postpones that day.

[kelly1mm]

5. Why are any Democtrats against this? This is ensuring the employers

hire only people authorized to work in the country. We have long argued to go after the employers that are enticing them here with jobs. Now, finally, there is a bill to do that and all the Democrats vote against it? I can understand if the R's voted against it as their patron corporate masters may not like having their hiring practices looked at, but Democrats? WTF?

[pasto76]

7. yes I am wondering the same.

Im sure details will emerge that make this either useless as written or something. Because traditionally, it is the repubs who have fought this tooth and nail, since it is a "cost" for using eVerify.

[pampango]

17. All 9 members of the Progressive Caucus on the Judiciary Committee voted against it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Progressive_Caucus
http://judiciary.house.gov/about/members.html

The reasons for their opposition vary of course. The most common one seems to be that republicans will never agree to comprehensive changes in immigration (or any other issue) if you let them cherry-pick the reforms they like and reject the rest.

"Liberal critics of the mandatory E-Verify bill, for their part, are eager to point out the dissent for the bill from the right in arguments about why E-Verify would not work. They argue that the bill should be coupled with comprehensive immigration reform that legalizes many of the current undocumented workers.

"It can't be done alone," Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said of E-Verify at the Thursday hearing. "Without those other reforms, mandatory E-Verify would create enormous damage.""

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/15/republican-e-verify-bill-opposition_n_964915.html

I've seen other liberals who have reservations about the accuracy of the system and potential harm to citizens and legal immigrants. Others, like the ACLU, have privacy concerns and think this is a step towards a national ID system. (ACLU:E-Verify Bill Makes It Harder to Get a Job and Violates Privacy)

Of course for some it may be just plain ol' partisan politics. (see post #10 below).

As others have pointed out, when you have some of the most conservative republicans pushing this bill, it probably behooves us to take a second look at what they are trying to accomplish.

[OswegoAtheist]

8. Hmm...

...so much for the party of "minimal intrusion in private businesses by the government". Only when it suits them, of course.

Oswego "I wonder which repuke's brother runs the eVerify company, and how many Housies will be working for him in ten years (coincidentally :sarcasm: )" Atheist

[flamingdem]

10. Think ELECTIONS! Dems want illegals to become citizens, Repukes do not want

more Dem voters in the USA

[deathbytech]

13. I have gone through this

and it's a bullshit system. Proving you are a citizen has never been harder. They asked for a copy of my high school diploma (after they got and accepted my college transcripts...wtf...), the process took a month (at which point I was unemployed so all that extra time they allotted for me to go more broke was very nice) and made the interview process almost completely meaningless since they weren't going to hire me without e-verify going through my shit. Oh yeah, a US government issued passport was not good enough either. I had to fax my social security card, driver's license, copy of a utility bill and my apartment lease to these assholes. I've never been through such an arbitrary interview before.