“Business leaders testified in Washington D.C. on Wednesday to discuss whether employers should legally be forced to use the federal employment verification system known as E-Verify.
By comparing employee information to federal data, E-Verify seeks to prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants. Now lawmakers and business leaders have gathered to discuss whether the House should pass the Legal Workforce Actwhich would require all employers to use the system.
The Legal Workforce Act isn’t the first time lawmakers have tried to make E-Verify mandatory for all businesses. Since the system was established in 1997 as the Basic Pilot Program, it has been expanded on the state and federal level on numerous occasions. Some states have passed legislation making it mandatory for certain businesses while other states require all employers to use it.
Randel Johnson, the senior vice president of labor, immigration and employee benefits at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, notes that though his organization has opposed prior expansions of E-Verify, recent improvements have made them reconsider their position.
“During the period 2006 to 2009 we testified five times and on each occasion, the Chamber, while supporting broad reforms to our legal immigration system, expressed opposition to the mandatory expansion of E-Verify without extensive improvements to the workability and reliability of what we saw as a burdensome system,†Johnson detailed in his statement before the House Judiciary Committee.
“However, in light of improvements in E-Verify, its use by federal contractors, and the focus on a more reliable employment verification system as a necessity, as well as a logical prerequisite to further immigration reform, the U.S. Chamber reassessed its position,†Johnson concluded.
Speaking on behalf of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and the Agriculture Workforce Coalition, Chuck Conner argued that expanding the verification system would have a proudly negative impact on American farmers and businesses.
“While the AWC recognizes the need for interior enforcement, a mechanism such as mandatory E-verify would have a devastating impact on our industry in the absence of a legislative solution for agriculture’s labor needs,†Connernoted in his statement to the committee.
“Immigration enforcement without a program flexible enough to address the labor needs of fruit, vegetable, dairy and nursery farms, and ranches, will result in many U.S. farmers and their farm employees losing their livelihoods and an overall decrease in U.S. agricultural production,†Conner argued. “The effect would go far beyond the farm gate.â€
Angelo Amador, the senior vice president of the National Restaurant Association, sees a federally enforced system as a…”
Originally posted by The Daily Caller. Full article at http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/04/e-verify-illegal-immigration/
