DHS Lawsuit Against Illinois Sends Clear Message to Local Governments to Quit Interfering in Immigration Enforcement
FAIR Applauds Administration for Decisive Step to Stop Employment of Illegal Aliens
Washington DC - The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) today applauded the decision by the Department of Homeland Security for filing suit against the State of Illinois and its attempt to thwart enforcement of federal immigration laws. A state law, approved by the legislature and signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, would bar employers in Illinois from using a federal database to verify the work eligibility of prospective employees. In recent years, Illinois has repeatedly instituted policies aimed at shielding illegal aliens.
Responding to overwhelming public sentiment in favor of enforcement of immigration laws, especially in the workplace, the Bush Administration has begun notifying employers when workers' Social Security numbers do not match information in the government's database. In an effort to assist employers who wish to comply with laws against hiring illegal aliens, the federal government has been encouraging them to utilize a database that allows them to verify Social Security numbers.
"Easy access to jobs in this country has long been the magnet that has drawn millions of illegal aliens here. As much, or perhaps even more, than securing the borders, preventing illegal aliens from finding jobs is the key to reversing mass illegal immigration," noted Dan Stein, president of FAIR. "In taking steps to bar employers from using the Social Security Administration's database to verify work eligibility until that database is virtually error free, is nothing more than a blatant attempt by state officials to further undermine immigration law enforcement. Perfection does not exist in this world, and we cannot expect it to be the standard for employment verification."
The policy that Illinois is attempting to thwart includes generous provisions to allow individuals to correct errors in the database that might be found during the verification process. "The state's effort is not about preventing errors, it is a politically motivated effort to prevent employers from identifying illegal aliens and complying with federal law," charged Stein. "The suit by DHS to block implementation of state's transparent effort to impede immigration enforcement in the workplace is the appropriate response to Illinois officials and a signal to other local governments that the federal government is serious about cracking down on businesses that hire illegal aliens."
The federal suit also addresses serious constitutional issues by asserting the federal government's right to enforce immigration laws everywhere in the country, even in jurisdictions that have made themselves de facto or formal sanctuaries for illegal aliens. "No state or local government can be permitted to stand in the way of the federal government's unassailable right to carry out immigration enforcement. Federal law allows local governments to assist in immigration enforcement, but there is no opt-out provision that allows them to prevent immigration laws from being enforced. Employers in Illinois must be permitted to comply with the same laws as employers in the other 49 states," concluded Stein.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
The Federal Government Sues Illinois to use E-Verify
The Federal Government Sues Illinois to Allow Employers to Use E-Verify
Last Monday, the federal government sued the State of Illinois to strike down a state law making it illegal for employers to use the federal government's E-Verify program. "E-Verify" is the new name for "Basic Pilot," currently a volunteer program that permits employers to verify the legal status of job applicants electronically. According to DHS, by August of this year, the program had been used by over 22,000 employers, who had sent nearly 3 million queries for verification of employment eligibility to the agency. Nearly 93 percent of these queries were answered within one day. The remainders received tentative non-confirmations. Under E-Verify a worker can challenge a non-confirmation, which takes about a week or sometimes longer for DHS to resolve. The legislation passed by Illinois makes it illegal for businesses in the state to use E-Verify until 99 percent of E-Verify results can be returned within 3 days of a request.
The complaint filed by Homeland Security asserts that the Illinois statute is in clear violation the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Section 2), which declares that federal law trumps any contrary state or local law. As stated by Secretary Chertoff, "What we can't do when we pass a federal law is have the states decide they want to modify that law." Crystal Williams, Deputy Director for Programs at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, called the lawsuit filed by DHS selective enforcement, noting that a number of states and localities have enacted laws directed at stopping illegal immigration, describing them as "clearly violations of the supremacy clause." According to Chertoff, the federal government has finally decided to go on the offensive. Noting that he understood the message of the defeat of the Bush-Kennedy Amnesty Bill, Chertoff remarked, "We will vigorously contest any effort to impede our enforcement efforts." (New York Times, September 25, 2007; Chicago Tribune, September 25 2007)
Last Monday, the federal government sued the State of Illinois to strike down a state law making it illegal for employers to use the federal government's E-Verify program. "E-Verify" is the new name for "Basic Pilot," currently a volunteer program that permits employers to verify the legal status of job applicants electronically. According to DHS, by August of this year, the program had been used by over 22,000 employers, who had sent nearly 3 million queries for verification of employment eligibility to the agency. Nearly 93 percent of these queries were answered within one day. The remainders received tentative non-confirmations. Under E-Verify a worker can challenge a non-confirmation, which takes about a week or sometimes longer for DHS to resolve. The legislation passed by Illinois makes it illegal for businesses in the state to use E-Verify until 99 percent of E-Verify results can be returned within 3 days of a request.
The complaint filed by Homeland Security asserts that the Illinois statute is in clear violation the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article IV, Section 2), which declares that federal law trumps any contrary state or local law. As stated by Secretary Chertoff, "What we can't do when we pass a federal law is have the states decide they want to modify that law." Crystal Williams, Deputy Director for Programs at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, called the lawsuit filed by DHS selective enforcement, noting that a number of states and localities have enacted laws directed at stopping illegal immigration, describing them as "clearly violations of the supremacy clause." According to Chertoff, the federal government has finally decided to go on the offensive. Noting that he understood the message of the defeat of the Bush-Kennedy Amnesty Bill, Chertoff remarked, "We will vigorously contest any effort to impede our enforcement efforts." (New York Times, September 25, 2007; Chicago Tribune, September 25 2007)
Attempt to Pass DREAM Act Stalls after Public Outcry
Attempt to Pass DREAM Act Stalls after Public Outcry
The efforts of Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and other amnesty proponents to amend the DREAM Act onto the Defense Authorization Bill (H.R. 1585) were scuttled last week after public outcry threatened to derail the Defense Bill entirely. Over the past two weeks tens of thousands of phone calls, emails and faxes in opposition to the DREAM Act barraged Senate offices, keeping Senator Durbin from finding the 60 votes he needed to proceed with the debate on his amendment. Although the Senator circulated various versions of the amendment and spent days trying to strike a deal behind closed doors, in the end he could not overcome public opinion. Wednesday evening, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that the DREAM Act would not be brought to the floor as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill.
The DREAM Act would have granted amnesty to those who had entered the country before they were 16 and had lived here 5 years if they were in the military or school and under the age of 30. However, the age limit did not affect the ability of illegal aliens to receive retroactive benefits if they already met the other criteria of the amnesty program. In addition, illegal aliens who were granted legal status under the program would have been eligible to receive federal financial aid for college tuition and been able to claim residency for purposes of in-state tuition.
Although the DREAM Act stalled as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promised to make every effort to return the legislation to the floor before the Thanksgiving recess. Reid declared: "We will move to proceed to this matter before we leave here. I'm going to do my utmost to do it by November 16."
The efforts of Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and other amnesty proponents to amend the DREAM Act onto the Defense Authorization Bill (H.R. 1585) were scuttled last week after public outcry threatened to derail the Defense Bill entirely. Over the past two weeks tens of thousands of phone calls, emails and faxes in opposition to the DREAM Act barraged Senate offices, keeping Senator Durbin from finding the 60 votes he needed to proceed with the debate on his amendment. Although the Senator circulated various versions of the amendment and spent days trying to strike a deal behind closed doors, in the end he could not overcome public opinion. Wednesday evening, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that the DREAM Act would not be brought to the floor as an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill.
The DREAM Act would have granted amnesty to those who had entered the country before they were 16 and had lived here 5 years if they were in the military or school and under the age of 30. However, the age limit did not affect the ability of illegal aliens to receive retroactive benefits if they already met the other criteria of the amnesty program. In addition, illegal aliens who were granted legal status under the program would have been eligible to receive federal financial aid for college tuition and been able to claim residency for purposes of in-state tuition.
Although the DREAM Act stalled as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) promised to make every effort to return the legislation to the floor before the Thanksgiving recess. Reid declared: "We will move to proceed to this matter before we leave here. I'm going to do my utmost to do it by November 16."
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