President George W. Bush on Friday signed an executive order requiring federal contractors to verify the employment eligibility status of federal contractors and subcontractors.
The order marks the first time any group of employers has been required to screen their employees using the E-Verify system, formerly known as Basic Pilot, which has been voluntary since 1996. It’s not likely to be the last.
The E-Verify system queries Social Security and immigration databases to determine if a person is authorized to work in the United States. If the system cannot confirm eligibility, for instance due to an error in one of the databases, the employee must rectify the error or risk being fired — or perhaps deported, despite being a citizen.
The excuse given in the executive order is that “contractors that employ illegal aliens . . . inevitably will have a less stable and less dependable workforce than contractors that do not employ such persons.”
Under the order, contractors will have to screen existing employees who work on any new federal contracts and will have to screen any new employees they hire.
Hoping to address concerns about the accuracy of the system, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday that over 99.5 percent of queries through the system have cleared immediately. Over 69,000 employers currently use the program on a voluntary basis, though over 200,000 employers could be covered under the executive order.
“It will have a huge impact,” said Rosemary Jenks, director of government relations for NumbersUSA, a group that favors reduced immigration. “This is the first time the federal government is ensuring that it will not be responsible, directly or indirectly, for hiring illegal aliens.”
Ms. Jenks said concerns about the accuracy of the Social Security database were overblown. She said many errors in the database came from women who had married and failed to notify the Social Security Administration of their name changes, and from immigrants who had become American citizens. These problems could be easily remedied with requests to Social Security or immigration agencies, she said.
But Mike Aitken, director of governmental affairs for the Society for Human Resource Management, a trade association, said the E-Verify system remained vulnerable to cheating by immigrants who used real identity documents belonging to other people. Without new money and more staff members, Mr. Aitken said, the Social Security Administration could be overwhelmed by inquiries from federal contractors. — New York Times
Easily remedied? These people have never dealt with the Social Security Administration or with Citizenship and Immigration Services — or perhaps with any government bureaucracy. Easy is not in their vocabulary. Neither is efficient, nor fast. Getting an error in government records corrected is difficult at best.
This country was built by immigrants, and you have an immigrant to thank for some aspect of everything in your life as you know it. Hard working immigrants who contribute to our economy are not the problem, yet the problem was created by the government not allowing enough immigrants to come in to the country in the first place. This E-Verify system encourages “illegal” immigrants to come here and sign up for welfare benefits rather than working, which compounds the problem. The solution to immigration is simple: allow anyone to come here who wants to work, and get rid of welfare.
Unless and until this is done, the federal government will continue this crackdown on ordinary Americans in the guise of fighting illegal immigration. It’s only going to get worse for you and your family.
This is the first big step on the road to handing the federal government total control over who works and who doesn’t. It’s also a big step toward a national identification system in which your picture and perhaps other biometric data is tied together from your driver license, passport, Social Security card, and other government sources into a giant centralized government database where any federal bureaucrat on a power trip can find out anything he wants about you.
And once that happens, you are as good as dead, and if the government doesn’t kill you, it will enslave you. That’s how it works.
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Karl Marx would love the popular moves among politicians in various state governments and the federal government to ban so-called "junk" food in schools, and to "put healthy food in" convenience stores and on the tables of those they define as poor. It's a very elitist and arrogant mindset that promotes this ideology, and it needs to be addressed.
Ultimately, the war supporters in Congress prevailed in the vote on the resolution. Still, the vote was significant because it places every member of Congress on the record as supporting or not supporting the unconstitutional, costly, violent occupation of a country that never attacked us. This vote should serve as an important reminder to the American people of where their representatives really stand when it comes to policing the world, empire building, and war.
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sfc mac
Jun 10, 2008
This country was built by LEGAL immigrants.
I don’t mind “hard working immigrants who contribute to our economy” but there are LEGAL ways to gain entrance, work permits, and citizenship. Illegals choose not to, thereby breaking the law.
Those of my ancestors who arrived on boats went through Ellis Island. They were laborers, factory workers and farmers. They adopted the traditions, principles, and language of their new country. And they did it LEGALLY. None of them were wealthy. There was no welfare system or government dole to help them when they got here. They endured ethnic discrimination, lived in their own working-class enclaves, and became productive members of American society.
What is happening now is not “immigration”. It’s an invasion. They came across the border, first in a trickle, and now in droves. “Guest worker” policies will not work. All that does is encourage the illegals already here to stay without actually becoming legal citizens. “Guests” are invited and I didn’t send out any invitations.
Along with the so-called “hard working” illegals, we have involuntarily absorbed some of Central and South America’s worst dredges of humanity. Rapists, pedophiles, thieves, murderers, MS-13 gangs and other assorted felons have embedded themselves into the country to continue their crime sprees at our expense.
Illegals don’t intend to become American citizens and assimilate into the culture by learning English and adopting the traditions inherent to American history and society.
There are also radical anarchist groups such as MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán), who have openly stated the intent to cede the Southwestern U.S. to Mexico. That’s not an exageration.
The cliché that “foreign workers fill the jobs that Americans don’t want” is patently false.
Example: In Alabama, 70 American citizens were sent home from a construction site in support of Hurricane Katrina relief and replaced with illegals that were transported to the area. The employers announced that “the Mexicans had arrived” and unceremoniously fired the Americans the same day. What you have here is violation of Federal Law and international smuggling of illegals for the purpose of displacing American workers. This type of criminal activity is taking place all over the country.
Regardless of what happens with the proposed illegal immigration reform, the border must be secured. There is no choice in this matter, as our survival and national security depend on it. Terrorists have also used the sieve that pretends to be a boundary as easy access to American soil. It will take another 3000 lives before the comatose members of Congress and Senate get a clue.
This is the solution: Secure the border with a wall, supplemented with guard towers, high-powered rifles with scopes, night-vision equipment, roving patrols, tracking dogs, and motion sensors. Give the Border Patrol the weaponry they need to do their job. Have the Army Corps of Engineers on hand to seek and destroy the underground tunnels already in existence or currently being dug by South-of the Border thugs. This is not an extreme suggestion, considering that illegal aliens and terrorists, with the support of the Mexican government, have been able to infiltrate at will. The Mexican Army has contributed to this crime by crossing into U.S. territory and shooting at the U.S. Border Patrol. I don’t know what they call that in the Senate, but I call it an act of war.
The Mexican government, headed by yet another of string of corrupt politicians, has yet to fix their country or stem the tide of illegals. They in fact, encourage them. It should not be the duty of the United States and our tax-paying legal residents to pick up the slack for a country that refuses to economically haul itself into the 21st century.
US Code Title 8 is finally being enforced.
It should have been done about 25 million illegals ago, but better late than never.
Bob
Jun 14, 2008
sfc mac: I hear where you are coming from but you’re just proposing more problems instead of solutions. If you will remember, they built the Berlin Wall in the name of keeping “out” evil Western influences, too. Walls usually wind up keeping people in. Not good.
Got problems with criminals? Hang ‘em or put them on the chain gang.
Got problems with people abusing the welfare system? Get rid of the welfare system and clean up our economic house.
Got problems with another country causing you grief? Kick their butts, fix their government and walk away with a wave of your hat.
That’s the way America used to operate when things were good and that’s why it was good. History is written different now, with lots of guilt, tears, apologies and hand wringing in the mix but it doesn’t change how it was.
The reality? It’s too late to fix things now and we can’t afford a big wall even if we wanted one. I’ve got nothing against hard working Mexicans. They work cheaper because they live cheaper. We’d better start learning how they do it because it’s a lifestyle that is coming soon to a town near you. It’s not their fault, it’s ours.
Stephen J.
Jun 20, 2008
Homeland security chief and GW are really behind some sinister issue on this executive order. The program probably is feeding some fat cat’s company who probably will suffer if the program is not renewed in November 2008. The order is made, probably, in an attempt to save the fat cat possibly campaign contributor or a personal friend, and in unison they found some Gov’t wide justification and use for the lousy system:) Yeah! The problem is the data contained in SSA databases is full of errors, and when it fails, innocent Americans are juggled between departments’ bureaucrats – back and forth, while the innocent American family is suffering from the loss of his/er earnings. This is really a silly and sinister law with a sideswiping intention to bypass Congress, a law only to be dreamt up in communist Russia or a dictatorship Government, where is USA heading too? This really should trouble US citizens. I thought George bush cared for families, and God; I guess he is just another politician helping out friends without regard to his citizens. If homeland os serious about this system, a) first why not clean the database, b) allow partial matches till the bad data is corrected rather than admitting there is bad data…oh well it’s very small, so those affected families should live with it, let’s call them whiners meanwhile C) if companies are voluntarily participating why all the stringent conditions as if requesting them to sign a deal with the devil…why not 100% give immunity to the companies they are at least trying to make an effort. And once the data error rate is very low as in 1 per 100 thousand people or so, then manually evaluate those cases. Since Homeland has all the information, Homeland or SSA should go and sort it out with the person applying for the job and leave the companies out. D, Shouldn’t there be some stringent privacy measures put here before asking us to submit yet to another department and unmanaged system…all in all the reason we have illegal immigrant problem in this country is because of the bureaucracies immigration and homeland security policies thusfar presented, if we had made it easier for people to come in legally and apply for legal statuses easily and efficiently, we will not be in this situations. Enforcement is just a stick, there should be more carrots than sticks; sticks are what dictators use on their citizens and we scream of those in China, Sudan, etc; and as Americans we are better than that Rep, Dem and all. Mr. Chertof and GW what will your forefathers and own conscious say when you are making rules to abuse citizens in the name safety. Haven’t you alredy taken so much of our freedom and economical health? Please carefully and unbiased-ly look at your SAVE, E-verify, USCIS, & SSOLV systems’ efficiency and accuracy before mandating them on citizens. We are really getting tired of your policies, these days.
Thanks,
Stephen J.
Kevin Fields
Jun 21, 2008
Absolutely! We must throw all the illegals out, because the illegals are the source of our crime, our welfare and our decline in American culture. Lock them all out.
And then what, I ask you.
If you think we’ll see a decline in crime and welfare and an increase in American culture, you’ll be sadly mistaken, because it isn’t the illegal immigrant that is the source of these problems, but our own government. Throwing up a physical fence will not protect us from fraud, drugs or job losses, it only shifts the statistics on who is committing the crimes. The crimes occur because there is an inequality in our own government.
Lady Liberty herself has not only been blindfolded, but bound and gagged as if she was a so-called “enemy combatant” held over in Gitmo. She is the enemy of bureaucracy and corruption, and our own government is not interested in seeing her defended.