Senate Jobs Bill Does Not Require that Employers Hire American Workers

Reid Deliberately Omits E-Verify Protections from Bill

February 23, 2010

(Washington, D.C.) A $15 billion package of tax credits and exemptions for employers who create new jobs is expected to gain approval by the Senate this week. However, the bill, intended to help millions of unemployed American workers find jobs, includes no verification mechanism to ensure that newly created jobs will actually be filled by legal U.S. workers. Moreover, it does not prevent employers from claiming tax credits and exemptions if the workers they hire are illegal aliens, charges the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

The legislation, authored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), does not require employers to use the federal E-Verify system to ensure that the workers being hired are legally eligible to work in the United States. Under an executive order issued by President Bush and implemented by President Obama, all federal contractors are already required to use E-Verify and the same requirement could easily have be applied to employers claiming tax credits and exemptions. In 2009, Sen. Reid stripped an E-Verify requirement from the $787 billion stimulus package that had been approved by the House when the bill went before a conference committee.

“It is unconscionable that while some 25 million Americans are unemployed or relegated to part-time work, the Senate is refusing to include protections that would guarantee that newly created jobs are filled by Americans who desperately need them,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “The failure to include E-Verify protections in the bill is not an oversight on the part of Sen. Reid. He has consistently blocked efforts to prevent employers who receive government contracts or tax benefits from hiring illegal aliens instead of legal U.S. workers.”

Under the Senate legislation, employers who fill newly created jobs with illegal aliens or guest workers would be entitled to the same tax credits and exemptions as employers who hire out-of-work Americans. Even if the employer were subsequently prosecuted for employing illegal aliens, the employer could legitimately claim these tax benefits for hiring them.

Because Sen. Reid has barred any amendments from being considered when the bill goes to the Senate floor, it will be virtually impossible for members to add E-Verify protections for American workers. “The excuse being offered for not including E-Verify in the legislation and barring its inclusion in the final language is laughable,” Stein said. “Opponents of inclusion of an E-Verify provision claim it is unnecessary because existing laws already bar employers from hiring illegal aliens. This claim ignores the fact that an estimated 8 million illegal aliens already hold jobs in the U.S.

“Unemployed Americans have a right to expect that they will be the beneficiaries of any jobs created as a result of this bill. American taxpayers who will be footing the bill for this and other legislation have a right to expect that their money will help put Americans back to work,” Stein continued. “These expectations could be easily fulfilled by requiring the use of E-Verify and barring employers who do not hire legal U.S. workers from receiving tax benefits – something Reid and Senate Democrats are refusing to do.”

About FAIR

Founded in 1979, FAIR is the country’s largest immigration reform group. With over 250,000 members nationwide, FAIR fights for immigration policies that serve national interests, not special interests. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.

Contact Ira Mehlman at 206-420-7733 or Bob Dane at 202-328-7004.

Dustin Carnevale

Communications Assistant

Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

http://www.fairus.org

Phone: (202)-328-7004

Fax: (202)-387-3447

http://twitter.com/FAIRImmigration

American Border Patrol

Photo of the day

It is not uncommon to see U.S Border Patrol vehicles parked in pairs and sometimes in threesomes. It is suspected that the agents break up the boredom by chatting with fellow agents….

HERE

Fresh from DHS yesterday:

E-Verify participating employers
(as of 20 Feb 10)

State Total MOUs # Total Sites * Queries for FY 10
(as of Sat. Feb. 20, 2010 )
ALABAMA 1,692 9,313 45,402
ALASKA 341 1,021 9,683
ARIZONA 33,110 58,871 268,969
ARKANSAS 988 4,056 46,135
CALIFORNIA 15,320 71,033 642,912
COLORADO 5,794 21,466 104,658
CONNECTICUT 1,246 7,929 33,811
DELAWARE 396 1,991 7,022
DIST OF COL 1,296 5,020 15,583
FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA 1 1 0

FLORIDA 7,639 24,008 1 81,762

GEORGIA 12,734 36,091 151,342

GUAM 58 116 1,536
HAWAII 553 1,080 12,654
IDAHO 715 1,658 26,534
ILLINOIS 4,738 26,072 100,900
INDIANA 2,009 5,246 63,755
IOWA 1,147 6,912 43,118
KANSAS 1,763 15,533 47,932
KENTUCKY 1,204 4,218 49,343
LOUISIANA 1,349 4,755 42,076
MAINE 340 896 5,263
MARSHALL ISLANDS 2 2 0
MARYLAND 3,257 13,120 120,847
MASSACHUSETTS 2,876 22,834 57,058
MICHIGAN 2,445 8,118 60,576
MINNESOTA 3,147 22,754 81,285
MISSISSIPPI 3,039 7,454 99,826
MISSOURI 17,283 29,351 890,701
MONTANA 295 712 3,360
NEBRASKA 1,966 4,109 50,669
NEVADA 1,357 3,807 30,549
NEW HAMPSHIRE 492 950 11,426
NEW JERSEY 3,776 11,018 65,359
NEW MEXICO 793 1,452 15,138
NEW YORK 5,296 44,529 92,002
NORTH CAROLINA 4,132 27,747 150,785
NORTH DAKOTA 267 609 5,857
NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS 1 1 0
OHIO 3,175 21,880 115,337
OKLAHOMA 2,686 7,769 76,228
OREGON 1,673 5,055 33,344
PALAU 1 1 42
PENNSYLVANIA 3,796 23,590 143,863
PUERTO RICO 217 256 4,817
RHODE ISLAND 2,255 3,414 13,429
SOUTH CAROLINA 4,346 11,795 215,097
SOUTH DAKOTA 295 654 4,844
TENNESSEE 2,657 19,123 213,871
TEXAS 10,039 48,225 392,062
UTAH 1,796 3,956 62,501
VERMONT 135 283 2,529
VIRGIN ISLANDS 31 259 222
VIRGINIA 5,096 28,585 120,965
WASHINGTON 2,908 8,574 89,484
WEST VIRGINIA 323 590 7,868
WISCONSIN 1,800 8,407 61,406
WYOMING 272 507 3,937
Total 188,358 698,776 5,197,674

# MOU – This represents the number of employers participating in the program. Employers must sign a ‘Memorandum of Understanding.”

* Total work sites (one employer may have multiple work sites).

GOP decline linked to immigration rise
BY CINDY CARCAMO
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

As immigrants surged into Orange County in the last two decades, the number of poeple voting for Republican presidential candidates in one of the state’s most conservative regions dropped by nearly 18 percent – to just over 50 percent, according to a report by the Center for Immigration Studies.

The correlation between increased immigration and what the study called the Republican “demise” mirrors a nationwide trend in counties, according to the report released Friday by an anti-illegal immigration group, which seeks to curb overall immigration.

Gimpel, a government professor at the University of Maryland, said the term “immigrant” is used in the study to describe both legal immigrants and those who are in the country illegally.

“There is an irony in that even though the Republican electorate has been undermined over time by this immigration flow, they do have a business constituency which seems committed to keeping it wide open,” Gimpel said. “There are a lot of influential donors who are in the business community who have influence over the GOP’s policy making in this area and they benefit from this flow of immigrants
HERE

CPAC exposes GOP split over illegal immigration

Christopher A. Guzman
Feb 23rd 2010

“…For the whole diversity vibe CPAC was generating, there was a demographic the event’s organizers greatly ignored; namely, those concerned with the nation’s broken immigration system. There was some attention given to the subject, but it took a backseat for the most part. Granted, a film was shown and there were two immigration reform booths in the massive exhibit hall.

Former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo pointed out this deficiency for World Net Daily, saying that CPAC 2010 failed the conservative movement in the “potent issues” of border security and illegal immigration. Furthermore, Tancredo accused CPAC board member Grover Nordquist of being soft on illegal immigration. Nordquist is apparently working closely with what can be called an amnesty plan for illegals. As a side note, Nordquist is also supporting Sen. John McCain over hardline, anti- illegal immigration supporter J.D. Hayworth…”

HERE

“We need to lock down the border and enforce visas, reject amnesty and enforce our current laws, get rid of our rewards and incentives to be here illegally, mandate E-Verify . . . No longer can we ignore the immigration problem. I believe it’s highly immoral and very exploitive … if we are going to have an effective foreign policy that is true to our convictions then we need to address illegal immigration.”

— Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) at the giant CPAC convention last weekend.

Roy Beck — Numbers USA

Conservative leaders cold-shoulder jobless by ignoring immigration

Most of the spotlighted conservative leaders at the giant CPAC convention this weekend showed that they are far more interested in the feelings of Republican Party major donors than in offering help for 25 million Americans who can’t find a full-time job…

HERE

Los Angeles Times

“High-tech border fence” is slow going

An ambitious, multibillion-dollar project to hot-wire the new Southwest border fence with high-tech radar, cameras and satellite signals has been plagued with serious system failures and repeated delays and now likely will not be completed for another seven years — if it is finished at all…

HERE

Gather.com

Time for a real double fence is NOW!!!

Congress has screwed around with the legislation that became law in 2006, establishing the requirement for the construction of a double-layered fence covering 854 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. The Duncan Hunter bill which passed, was gutted by the Hutchison amendment in 2008. Then temporarily ressurected by the DeMint amendment in July 2009…

HERE

It’s not “secure the borders first”…it is secure the borderds and enforce the laws. Period.

Wall St. Journal

FEBRUARY 22, 2010

GOP’s Demographic Wager: Courting Latino Candidates

By PETER WALLSTEN

Some high-profile Republicans are adopting a softer vocabulary on immigration and trying to recruit more Hispanic candidates, a response to the party’s soul-searching about tactics that many strategists believe have alienated the country’s fastest-growing voter bloc.

In Texas, George P. Bush, the half Mexican-American son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, has founded Hispanic Republicans of Texas, a political action committee to promote Hispanics running for state and local offices.

In California, GOP gubernatorial front-runner Meg Whitman, the former eBay Inc. chief executive officer, tells Hispanics she would have voted against a Republican-backed 1994 measure barring illegal immigrants from receiving social services.

And Rep. Tom Price (R., Ga.), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee and an opponent of past efforts to make a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, has been meeting with Hispanic leaders to find a new tone on that and other points of contention between Hispanics and conservatives.

For Republicans, such efforts carry risks, especially as conservative activists try to push GOP candidates to be more ideologically pure. Opposition to “amnesty,” a buzzword used by critics of proposals to legalize the 12 million illegal immigrants believed to be living in the U.S., remains a reliable applause line.

Nonetheless, many in the party have concluded that opposition to immigration legislation, a debate that is sometimes racially charged, has alienated millions of otherwise conservative Hispanic voters.

Republicans won just 31% of Hispanic votes in the 2008 presidential election, according to exit polls, down from more than 40% four years earlier, as the party took a hard line on immigration policy. That was a big factor in handing President Barack Obama his Electoral College victory and a seven-point win over Republican Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). If current demographic and voting trends continue, Hispanics’ growing share of the electorate could make Republican electoral college victories a near impossibility as early as 2020.

The Republican efforts could prove crucial in Hispanic-heavy states in this year’s elections. Party strategists fear a heavily Democratic Hispanic vote could hurt Republican chances in governors races in Texas, California and Florida, and make it harder for a Republican presidential nominee in the future to win states with fast-growing Hispanic populations.

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, who is coordinating some of the party’s internal discussions, called the tandem effect of rising Hispanic population and dwindling Republican support an “untenable delta.”

Mr. Gillespie blamed the problem on past Republican rhetoric. He said the GOP needed to think about “tone and body language” in discussing the issue. “We have to make clear to Latino voters that we care as much about welcoming legal immigrants into our country as we do about keeping illegal ones out,” he said.

Mr. Gillespie and other strategists say the party needs to win more Hispanic voters through economic and social issues. Focus groups in Florida and Nevada conducted by Resurgent Republic, a group co-founded by Mr. Gillespie, found big concerns about debt among Hispanics.

The Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, a group set up by Princeton University Professor Robert George, a leading intellectual voice among Christian conservatives, plans to spend at least $500,000 spread over a handful of races to help pro-immigration Republican candidates, according to Alfonso Aguilar, a former Bush administration immigration official who runs the group. A key position for the group, said Mr. Aguilar, is legalizing illegal workers.

Another GOP-affiliated group, the Hispanic Leadership Fund, plans to target three races this year, supporting conservative Hispanic candidates and promoting other Republicans who back more liberal immigration laws.

Mr. Price, the Georgia lawmaker, said in an interview he began meeting with Hispanic groups in recent months to open a “line of communication so there is a reserve of trust.” But he said he wasn’t ready to talk about a path to legalization until he was convinced the U.S.-Mexico border is secured.

Javier Ortiz, a Georgia-based GOP consultant who grew up in Puerto Rico and has participated in the meetings with Mr. Price, said the congressman was “formulating his views on immigration through these discussions, and he hasn’t decided to go one way or the other. And that’s something I find encouraging.”

The new GOP language on immigration was evident in a recent appearance by Sarah Palin on Fox News. The former Alaska governor said that conservatives needed to be “welcoming and inviting to immigrants” and recognize that “immigrants built this great country.”

The party nonetheless remains home to conservatives who thwarted attempts by President George W. Bush to push the GOP to accept more liberal immigration laws.

To court anti-illegal immigration advocates, even the GOP’s most prominent Hispanic candidate of the year, Florida Senate hopeful Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American former state House speaker, has taken an immigration position to the right of his primary rival, Gov. Charlie Crist. He drew fire from Hispanic leaders, including some Republicans, when he argued recently that illegal immigrants should not be counted in the Census for purposes of drawing congressional and legislative districts.

Roy Beck, executive director of Numbers USA, a group that advocates for strict limits on immigration, said strategists who urge a softer stance will be hard-pressed to find “any Republicans who want to stay in office who want to take their advice.”

A more conciliatory approach, Mr. Beck said, would turn off independent voters, who tend to support more restrictive immigration policies, particularly at a time of high unemployment, and whose movements back to the GOP in recent months are likely to spur big gains for the party this November.

The views of independent voters also complicate matters for Democrats, who are trying to retain Hispanic voters while wooing independents and satisfying labor unions, which are divided on immigration. Mr. Obama has said he supports an overhaul, including a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but the issue has been overshadowed by the White House’s primary focus on jobs and the economy.

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A4

HERE