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Let's make sure those new jobs promised by President Obama go to U.S. citizens or legal residents authorized to work
Saturday, February 7, 2009 6:35 AM PST
Depending on whether you listened to President Barack Obama during his campaign or the early days of his administration, he's promised to create or save 3 to 5 million jobs.
A recently released report from Obama's Council of Economic Advisors stated that 500,000 jobs could be created by making new investments in clean energy; nearly 400,000 jobs might come through upgrading infrastructure by building and repairing roads, schools and bridges; and an additional 200,000 jobs should be created in health care by developing a nationwide system of computerized medical records.
Said Obama, "The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries. And they'll be the kind of jobs that don't just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long term."
Putting aside my skepticism that anything even approaching two million jobs will come from Obama's stimulus program, I'll address instead what is crucial: Any and all employment generated by government-funded job creation programs must go to U.S. citizens or legal residents authorized to work.
Taxpayer-funded programs to put Americans back to work that might instead create jobs for non-legal workers would be the last straw for the beleaguered country.
Over the last several decades, in every corner of the U.S. economy, employees not legally authorized to work have gotten and kept good jobs.
In some cases, they are illegal aliens working in construction. Others entered the country on non-immigrant visas, but when those visas expired they never returned home. Somewhere today, they hold a job an American should have.
But despite its long history of creating ineffectual, expensive and unwieldy programs, the federal government's E-Verify system will confirm within seconds whether a prospective employee is legal.
E-Verify is a free, Internet-based system operated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration that allows participating employers to check the work status of new hires.
By comparing information from an employee's I-9 form against SSA and Department of Homeland Security databases, in more than 93 percent of the cases, E-Verify will send a status confirmation to employers within seconds.
Most of the 5.8 percent who received a tentative non-confirmation requiring more investigative time turned out to be illegal aliens.
And only 0.5 percent that received a tentative non-confirmation are U.S. citizens or authorized foreign workers. Among them, many made reporting errors such as a woman not notifying SSA of a name change after a marriage.
E-Verify's accuracy rate is, according to a 2007 independent study, 99.5 percent.
Despite its advantages, powerful forces are working to discredit E-Verify. Some opponents come from predictable places like the pro-immigration lobby and immigration lawyers.
According to Tyler Moran of the National Immigration Law Center, "Requiring businesses to enroll in E-Verify could only slow the influx of money and jobs into the economy. It is going to delay the stimulus. It doesn't belong here."
But in her statement, Moran errs in several places. Her most egregious misrepresentation is that employers will have to spend considerable time in E-Verify implementation. Wrong — by using only one staff person for only a few hours, an entire company can complete its E-Verify enrollment.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a longtime supporter of hiring illegal aliens, joins immigration lawyers in its criticism of E-Verify. The Chamber issued a 27-page report calling it "misguided, premature and unwarranted," and claiming that it would cost citizens jobs.
But E-Verify supporters on Capitol Hill challenge the Chamber — or anyone else opposed — to identify one single case where an American citizen has been denied employment because of the program. To date, no one has come forward.
Finally, a small handful of Congressmen — including, most prominently, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez and Representative Zoe Lofgren — want to keep E-Verify out of any hiring requirements for federal contractors.
And although President George W. Bush signed an executive order mandating it for those contractors, the Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit. Accordingly, the Obama administration has delayed its final decision until at least May 21.
But Lodi employers don't need to wait. Those committed to maintaining a legal workforce can and should voluntarily enroll today. Remember: E-Verify is easy, free, fast and just a tick under 100 percent reliable.
Joe Guzzardi recently retired from the Lodi Unified School District. Contact him at guzzyjoe@yahoo.com.
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T & C wrote on Feb 11, 2009 8:19 AM:
WY wrote on Feb 11, 2009 7:16 AM:
T & C wrote on Feb 10, 2009 7:27 AM:
dogbark wrote on Feb 8, 2009 9:13 AM:
The fishy part of this is that my son had just gotten the number (this was before you needed soc sec numbers for your kids on your tax return) so I figure the San Diego illegal knew he was using a kid's number and unlikely to get caught for years. (Instead, when the newspaper turned in a 1099 that triggered the IRS track down.) But I always wondered if somebody at the local Soc Sec was providing those numbers to the black market. "
loadeye wrote on Feb 7, 2009 12:52 PM:
loadeye wrote on Feb 7, 2009 12:46 PM:
The U.S.Chamber of Commerce, a longtime supporter of hiring illegal aliens,joins immigration lawyers in its criticism of E-Verify.The Chamber issued a 27-page report calling it "misguided, premature and unwarranted," and claiming that it would cost citizens jobs.
According to Tyler Moran of the National Immigration Law Center, "Requiring businesses to enroll in E-Verify could only slow the influx of money and jobs into the economy. It is going to delay the stimulus. It doesn't belong here."
But in her statement, Moran errs in several places. Her most egregious misrepresentation is that employers will have to spend considerable time in E-Verify implementation. Wrong by using only one staff person for only a few hours, an entire company can complete its E-Verify enrollment.
But Lodi employers don't need to wait. Those committed to maintaining a legal workforce can and should voluntarily enroll today. Remember: E-Verify is easy, free, fast and just a tick under 100 percent reliable.
Why doesn't Armor-Struxx, the plastic plants, cottage bakery and PCP cannery institute E-verify? They'll lose 50-75% of their workforce immediately. If they don't want to comply, shut them down. PERIOD. UScitizens need those jobs. "
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