Republicans at Odds Over E-Verify; Status Quo Great for Employed Aliens

By Joe Guzzardi
November 4, 2011

House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith’s Legal Workforce Act that would make the online, free E-Verify program mandatory for all employers has hit a brick wall. By checking the immigration status of all new hires and by ferreting out employed illegal aliens, Smith’s E-Verify bill would unquestionably create job opportunities for millions among America’s 9 percent unemployed. The bill, which passed Smith’s committee late this summer, should be on the way to the House floor for a full vote. But it’s not.

The major hang up is that the bill divides the House into two camps: the states’ rights supporters versus those members who urge passing it as written. The dispute centers on a preemption clause that prohibits states from carrying out their individual immigration laws unless the federal government acts first.

The anti-Smith forces argue, correctly, that there isn’t a scintilla of evidence that President Obama is willing to enforce immigration law and is instead moving in the other direction by granting parole to illegal aliens.

Why, therefore, strip power from the states which have done outstanding enforcement work in Arizona, Alabama, Pennsylvania and elsewhere? Arizona, for example, has conducted worksite raids resulting in a 16 percent drop in the illegal alien population, more than double the national average. Encouraged by the Supreme Court’s decision that upheld Arizona’s rights, dozens of states are lined up to pass and enforce stiff immigration laws in 2012.

One of the states’ rights leaders is freshman U.S. Representative Lou Barletta (R-PA) whose opposition to illegal immigration dates back to 2006 when as Hazelton’s mayor he cracked down on employers who knowingly hired aliens. Barletta, pointing out that the notoriously pro-cheap labor Chamber of Commerce endorses Smith’s bill, called it “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

The pro-Smith side insists that his bill will act as a strong deterrent to job seeking aliens who, frustrated, eventually will self deport. Additionally, the Legal Workforce Act will close existing employment loopholes by requiring the Social Security Administration to run two systems that would catch existing workers who have fictitious, stolen or no match social security numbers that may be connected to invalid visas.

Such a critically important provision would have alerted Conti Liquors owner Parimal Patel that his employee Omar Onyango, President Obama’s illegal alien uncle, had a long ago expired visa. Onyango is one of millions of aliens who hold payroll jobs that Americans would gladly do.

Both sides make compelling cases. But what would become of states that will never pass E-Verify legislation like my native California or New York, Illinois and Massachusetts? All four are controlled by ultra-liberal governors shamelessly willing to aid and abet aliens. Without a state or federal E-Verify law, aliens would have carte blanche.

The two top House Republicans John Boehner and Eric Cantor have blocked Smith’s bill. Because E-Verify is already a hot topic among presidential candidates (and will eventually be debated in most Congressional districts before the 2012 election), it may not stay blocked for long.

If the Legal Workforce Act, or an amended version that allows states rights, proceeds to a full vote, it will pass the House, squeak past the Senate and be signed by President Obama. No one wants to run for office on an anti-E-Verify platform.

On the other hand, if it remains stalled, the Legal Workforce Act will be Exhibit A for why so little has changed in the decades-long struggle for a sensible immigration policy.

Joe Guzzardi has written editorial columns, mostly about immigration and related social issues, since 1986. He is a Senior Writing Fellow for Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) and his columns are syndicated in various U.S. newspapers and websites. Contact him at [email protected].