FAIR Slams Administration and Congressional Leadership for Rejecting Permanent Reauthorization of E-Verify

FAIR Slams Administration and Congressional Leadership for Rejecting Permanent
Reauthorization of E-Verify

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- House-Senate conferees
finalizing the Homeland Security Appropriations bill yesterday undermined the
long-term security of American workers by removing language that would have
made the E-Verify program permanent. Instead, the conference agreement limits
reauthorization to just three years.

E-Verify is the nation's essential worksite verification tool that allows
employers to voluntarily determine whether workers are legally authorized to
work in the U.S. by electronically verifying their Social Security numbers.
Over 140,000 employers are using the system, 1000 are joining each week, and
according to the Department of Homeland Security, E-Verify has a 99.6 percent
accuracy rate.

The decision to extend E-Verify for only three years is further evidence of
the Obama administration's and the congressional leadership's effort to raise
a smokescreen while it dismantles all effective controls against illegal
immigration, charged the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

Conferees also stripped other safeguards in the Senate bill that were intended
to protect American workers from losing jobs to illegal aliens. These
provisions included a requirement that federal contractors use E-Verify to
determine the employment eligibility of new and existing employees working on
federal contracts, and language to prevent the repeal of a rule that required
employers to take action upon the receipt of "no-match" letters, issued to
employers whose workers' Social Security data cannot be confirmed. A third
provision would have ensured all employers can use E-Verify to determine
employment eligibility of existing workers in addition to new hires.

"A three-year extension of E-Verify was the bare minimum this administration
and the congressional leadership could support and still make any credible
claim that they are prepared to enforce U.S. immigration laws," said Dan
Stein, president of FAIR. "All that would have been required to make E-Verify
a permanent federal program is for conferees to have adopted provisions that
were already part of the Senate bill. The fact that they did not speaks
volumes about the priorities of this Congress and the Obama administration."

"Unfortunately, at a time when American workers most need the full commitment
of their government to protect their jobs, what they got was a half-hearted
gesture. E-Verify is the real meat and potatoes of worksite enforcement and
dries up the jobs magnet which is the reason illegal aliens come and the
reason they stay. The program offers a meaningful solution to our immigration
crisis and needs a permanent reauthorization, not a temporary stay of
execution. The Obama administration and congressional leaders demonstrated,
once again, that their goal is to minimize the enforcement of laws against
illegal immigration," concluded Stein.

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.

SOURCE FAIR

Ira Mehlman, +1-206-420-7733, or Bob Dane, +1-202-328-7004, both of FAIR