Wall Street Journal (Article by Miriam Jordan):
Conservative, tea-party and libertarian groups have joined liberals in fighting a signature Republican bill in Congress that would crack down on illegal-immigrant workers. The legislation, they argue, would hurt businesses and employees while expanding government regulation.
The bill, by Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R., Texas), would require all employers to use E-Verify, an electronic government database that checks whether new hires are eligible to work in the U.S.
Its prospects had looked good in the GOP-controlled House, where it is to be finished by the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Regarded as less controversial than others drafted to tackle illegal immigration, it was seen as able to win bipartisan support in the Senate, too, especially with unemployment high.
Now, the backlash threatens to sideline the bill, as Republicans seek to placate conservatives wary of legislation they consider intrusive and to court Hispanic voters who might deem it discriminatory.
Last week, a coalition of regional and national groups that champion less government, privacy protection and small-business interests wrote a letter to members of Congress urging them to vote against the bill, and took out an ad on Politico. The coalition is using social media to spread the word to affiliated members. It plans to start airing radio spots in some districts.
The letter said requiring the use of E-Verify, which is currently voluntary, would create a de facto national identification system, infringe on rights such as the freedom to seek work, cripple small businesses, turn employers into immigration agents and encourage identity theft. The letter calls the bill a "job killer" that will cost employers millions of dollars. Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation and one of the letter's 27 signatories, said that his movement strongly opposed illegal immigration but that "it's not private enterprise's job to enforce immigration."
"The bill doesn't stem the tide of illegal immigration," said Andrew Langer, president of the Institute for Liberty, an antiregulation group. Instead, he said, "it adds to the burden on small business when the economy is in the doldrums—a baffling idea."
The bill "has not yet been scheduled for floor consideration," a GOP congressional aide said, "and the House will be focusing this fall on our pro-growth agenda to remove harmful regulations that are increasing uncertainty and preventing economic growth and job creation."
Asked about House Speaker John Boehner's position on the bill, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner (R., Ohio) said, "We will review the legislation after the committee passes it."
The efforts of the conservative and libertarian groups put them on the same side of the bill as liberal organizations that favor an amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants. "We may disagree on many aspects of the immigration debate, but we can all agree we want to see this bill fail," said Michael Ostrolenk, national director of the conservative Liberty Coalition and coordinator of the campaign against mandatory use of E-Verify.
E-Verify works by comparing information entered from an employee's I-9 employment form with Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records. It is used by 4% of U.S. employers. Federal contractors must participate, and a few states also mandate its use.
"A few have claimed that a federal E-Verify requirement will cause jobs losses," Mr. Smith said in a written response to questions about opposition to the bill. "Yes, E-Verify is a jobs killer, but only for illegal workers."
Mr. Smith said it didn't make sense to rely on "the paper-based, error-prone" system currently used by employers, when a "successful, Web-based program is available."
The Obama administration continues to audit companies to identify illegal workers. On Tuesday, federal agents executed search warrants at several IHOP Corp. restaurants in Toledo, Ohio, and at one in Indiana. A spokesman for IHOP said the search involved restaurants owned by one franchisee and that IHOP was cooperating with the authorities.
Meanwhile, fissures over illegal immigration continue to surface among Republicans as they come under pressure from various interest groups. Businesspeople are pushing for a business-friendly immigration policy. Over the summer, farmer groups descended on Capitol Hill to protest what they see as E-Verify's negative impact on their work force and on U.S. food production. They, too, then launched an online campaign to oppose it.
Mr. Smith drafted an accompanying agriculture bill to address their concerns. Congressman Dan Lungren (R., Calif.), who has voiced reservations about the E-Verify bill, drafted his own guest-worker program.
A hard-liner on immigration, Mr. Smith began promoting a verification program to identify illegal workers in 1994. Congress established a voluntary pilot program a precursor to E-Verifywhen it passed immigration legislation in 1996. Now, in a sour economy, Mr. Smith is pushing E-Verify as a tool to open up jobs for unemployed Americans.
Independent studies have put the system's error rate at less than 1%. Critics say that's enough to jeopardize jobs for hundreds of thousands of legal workers who are mistakenly flagged. At the same time, it fails to catch illegal immigrants using stolen or borrowed documents, which E-Verify can't detect, they say.
Conservative, tea-party and libertarian groups have joined liberals in fighting a signature Republican bill in Congress that would crack down on illegal-immigrant workers. The legislation, they argue, would hurt businesses and employees while expanding government regulation.
The bill, by Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R., Texas), would require all employers to use E-Verify, an electronic government database that checks whether new hires are eligible to work in the U.S.
Its prospects had looked good in the GOP-controlled House, where it is to be finished by the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Regarded as less controversial than others drafted to tackle illegal immigration, it was seen as able to win bipartisan support in the Senate, too, especially with unemployment high.
Now, the backlash threatens to sideline the bill, as Republicans seek to placate conservatives wary of legislation they consider intrusive and to court Hispanic voters who might deem it discriminatory.
Last week, a coalition of regional and national groups that champion less government, privacy protection and small-business interests wrote a letter to members of Congress urging them to vote against the bill, and took out an ad on Politico. The coalition is using social media to spread the word to affiliated members. It plans to start airing radio spots in some districts.
The letter said requiring the use of E-Verify, which is currently voluntary, would create a de facto national identification system, infringe on rights such as the freedom to seek work, cripple small businesses, turn employers into immigration agents and encourage identity theft. The letter calls the bill a "job killer" that will cost employers millions of dollars. Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation and one of the letter's 27 signatories, said that his movement strongly opposed illegal immigration but that "it's not private enterprise's job to enforce immigration."
"The bill doesn't stem the tide of illegal immigration," said Andrew Langer, president of the Institute for Liberty, an antiregulation group. Instead, he said, "it adds to the burden on small business when the economy is in the doldrums—a baffling idea."
The bill "has not yet been scheduled for floor consideration," a GOP congressional aide said, "and the House will be focusing this fall on our pro-growth agenda to remove harmful regulations that are increasing uncertainty and preventing economic growth and job creation."
Asked about House Speaker John Boehner's position on the bill, a spokesman for Mr. Boehner (R., Ohio) said, "We will review the legislation after the committee passes it."
The efforts of the conservative and libertarian groups put them on the same side of the bill as liberal organizations that favor an amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants. "We may disagree on many aspects of the immigration debate, but we can all agree we want to see this bill fail," said Michael Ostrolenk, national director of the conservative Liberty Coalition and coordinator of the campaign against mandatory use of E-Verify.
E-Verify works by comparing information entered from an employee's I-9 employment form with Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security records. It is used by 4% of U.S. employers. Federal contractors must participate, and a few states also mandate its use.
"A few have claimed that a federal E-Verify requirement will cause jobs losses," Mr. Smith said in a written response to questions about opposition to the bill. "Yes, E-Verify is a jobs killer, but only for illegal workers."
Mr. Smith said it didn't make sense to rely on "the paper-based, error-prone" system currently used by employers, when a "successful, Web-based program is available."
The Obama administration continues to audit companies to identify illegal workers. On Tuesday, federal agents executed search warrants at several IHOP Corp. restaurants in Toledo, Ohio, and at one in Indiana. A spokesman for IHOP said the search involved restaurants owned by one franchisee and that IHOP was cooperating with the authorities.
Meanwhile, fissures over illegal immigration continue to surface among Republicans as they come under pressure from various interest groups. Businesspeople are pushing for a business-friendly immigration policy. Over the summer, farmer groups descended on Capitol Hill to protest what they see as E-Verify's negative impact on their work force and on U.S. food production. They, too, then launched an online campaign to oppose it.
Mr. Smith drafted an accompanying agriculture bill to address their concerns. Congressman Dan Lungren (R., Calif.), who has voiced reservations about the E-Verify bill, drafted his own guest-worker program.
A hard-liner on immigration, Mr. Smith began promoting a verification program to identify illegal workers in 1994. Congress established a voluntary pilot program a precursor to E-Verifywhen it passed immigration legislation in 1996. Now, in a sour economy, Mr. Smith is pushing E-Verify as a tool to open up jobs for unemployed Americans.
Independent studies have put the system's error rate at less than 1%. Critics say that's enough to jeopardize jobs for hundreds of thousands of legal workers who are mistakenly flagged. At the same time, it fails to catch illegal immigrants using stolen or borrowed documents, which E-Verify can't detect, they say.
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