June Bureau of Labor Statistics Report: Signs of Improvement, but E-Verify not on the Horizon

Grade for the June Bureau of Labor Statistics report: a B- with the prospect for continued improvement. The economy created 220,000 jobs, ahead of Wall Street’s expectations that ranged around 175,000. May and June figures were revised upwards for a combined 47,000 more jobs than previously reported. But other key numbers like the unemployment rate, the labor force participation rate, the employment-population rate and wages were mostly unchanged at, respectively, 4.4 percent, 62.8 percent, 60.1 percent, and four cents hourly.

Many of the jobs sectors that showed growth in June have significant illegal immigrant employment especially heath care and food services. Month after month, the BLS report emphasizes mandatory E-Verify’s importance to legally authorized workers. E-Verify, which has near-universal support that includes some staunch pro-immigration advocates, coupled with meaningful interior enforcement that would penalize employers who hire aliens, helps citizen and legal permanent resident workers find jobs. Politifact, a fact-checking website that evaluates the accuracy of elected officials and analysts’ claims, rated former Rhode Island Democratic State Representative Peter Palumbo’s assertion that most Americans want mandatory E-Verify as true. 

In his 2015 column for the Daily Beast, Ruben Navarrette’s colorfully titled “How California’s Democrats are Screwing Immigrants,” concluded that based on dozens of his interviews with California’s illegal immigrants, the most powerful magnets that draw them to the state are jobs, driver’s licenses, and the freedom to travel back and forth to Mexico. E-Verify would eliminate job prospects for illegally present foreign nationals. Without employment, there would be no need for licenses or travel requirements.

But despite his pledge to work with Congress on E-Verify, and its popularity with his base, President Trump has been mum since entering the White House.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has introduced mandatory E-Verify, S 179. But the bill has only 11 co-sponsors. Please go to the CAPS Action Alert page here to tell you Senators to support S 179.