Obama and E-Verify: Would He Veto A Bill Mandating Its Use?

By Joe Guzzardi
December 27, 2010

In the ten days that have passed since the Senate defeated the DREAM Act, the bill’s proponents (students and activists alike) have bemoaned its failure, threatening to “remember” those who voted against it and vowing to carry on their futile fight until they prevail.

Columnists have gone so far as to suggest that various thwarted DREAMers have considered suicide and that organizations who lobbied successfully against the act are unchristian and racist.

Naturally, loser backlash is expected especially when hopes had been pumped up so high. And hysterical columns from the mainstream media, one of the DREAM Act’s biggest backers, are their standard operating procedure.

Bluster aside, here’s what I know will happen.

First, any threats that students will hold politicians accountable is impossible. Most of the DREAMers are self identified illegal aliens, ineligible to vote. And their backers are exclusively from the most liberal wing of the Democratic party. Some liberals claim they will refrain from voting in 2012. That would be pointless since not voting for the Democrat will only make it easier for the Republican, who will probably run on an immigration enforcement platform, to prevail.

Second, to the dismay of pro-immigration forces, the DREAM Act is not only dead, the 112th Congress vows to immediately take up strong enforcement legislation. Lamar Smith, the new head of the House Judiciary Committee, promised that his first two hearings would focus on expanding E-verify, a voluntary program to confirm that employees are legally authorized to work. Smith, who called any amnesty legislation “pointless” until the border is secured, stated that his goal is to make E-verify mandatory for all employers.

Smith called E-verify an important tool to create and protect American jobs. Using a phrase that is likely to resonate through the new Congress, Smith calls jobs a “70 percent issue,” meaning that 70 percent of Americans favor defending American workers.

When the E-verify House bill passes, a certainty, the new Senate will take it up. With Republicans gaining six Senate seats in the 2010 election, the passage of mandatory E-verify legislation is, although not assured, probable. The six new Senators and several Democrats are enforcement-minded enough to get the bill passed in the Senate.

What happens next would be up to President Obama. The president’s record on E-verify has not been encouraging. In 2009, Obama stripped it from his stimulus package and budget. At that time, the White House held out on E-verify with the idea that the Democrats could use it as a bargaining chip in comprehensive immigration reform negotiations.

Would Obama have the audacity to further endanger Democrats political chances, including his own, in 2012 by vetoing mandatory E-verify legislation? If Obama did, he’d be turning a deaf ear to the November 2010 results.

In a meeting last week with the Hispanic Caucus, Obama sent mixed signals to his audience. Obama promised to make an amnesty plea in his State of the Union address. But even the most committed Democrats agree that would only represent window dressing.

The Hispanic Caucus’ new post-DREAM Act goal is to avoid the most punitive legislation that might involve stricter enforcement procedures against illegal aliens

But since Smith doesn’t contemplate any such bills, at least in the near future, the Democrat’s worry is what may happen to their careers if Obama decides to take the huge political risk of vetoing legislation that protects American workers.

With the 2012 reelection cycle already started, the last thing Democrats want is to appear the party that favors coddling illegal immigrants at the expense of American workers.

Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns—mostly about immigration and related social issues – since 1990. He is a senior writing fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns have frequently been syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. He can be reached at [email protected].