Well, well, well ... Utah Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz thinks that the 'Legal Workforce Act' is the best way to put millions of Americans back to work.
Why?
Well, let’s listen to the honorable Congressman’s own words on the bill he co-sponsored, along with 37 other members of the House: "The Legal Workforce Act will stop illegal immigrants from taking American jobs, while opening up jobs for citizens and legal immigrants. America's unemployment rate is too high. This legislation not only reduces the incentives that drive illegal immigration, but it also benefits both the employer and employee. This bill helps fix legal immigration."
Really?
So, Jason says the 'Legal Workforce Act' will open up 'jobs for citizens and legal immigrants' and helps fix legal immigration?
How about that?
Since we’re talking about legislation created by Republicans in the 112th Congress, perhaps we should take a closer look.
The ‘Legal Workforce Act’ essentially requires businesses to use E-Verify, an internet-based program managed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to confirm that new employees are legal immigrants or U.S. citizens and are therefore eligible to work in the United States.
Though employers are not currently required to use E-Verify, they are required to complete and file an I-9 form confirming each employee’s legal right to work in the United States within three days of hiring.
This legislation eliminates paper version of the I-9 form.
No argument with that.
We hear from DHS that hundreds of thousands of employers already utilize E-Verify; DHS also says that thousands of employers sign up for E-Verify each week.
Okay ... so far, so good ... until we look at the claim by Congressman Chaffetz and his Republican pals that when this bill becomes law, millions of new jobs will be opened up for legal immigrants and American citizens.
That claim falls flat in the face of the ‘Great Alabama illegal immigration Takedown’; a new law that just blew up in the faces of farmers, consumers and, ultimately, lawmakers in the great state of Alabama.
What happened in the 'Great Takedown’?
Alabama lawmakers thought it would be lots of fun to make it a crime for any business to employ illegal immigrants; these selfsame legal eagles also thought it would be good to give police anywhere in Alabama the power to jail anyone who can’t prove they’re in the United States legally.
So ... Alabama lawmakers passed a nice conservative law guaranteed to send them illegals back to where they belong.
And it worked beautifully.
Hispanic workers, illegal and legal, who picked fruit, who pulled sweet potatoes out of the ground, who picked vegetables, who gathered chickens to be slaughtered and who made the cardboard boxes for all that fruit and all those sweet potatoes and vegetables, are leaving Alabama in droves.
Why?
Because the new anti-illegal law in Alabama worked beautifully!
The only problem is that Alabama’s farmers aren’t quite as thrilled about the new law as are Alabama’s lawmakers.
Why?
Alabama's farmers say that they’re about to lose millions of dollars because no one's around to harvest their fruits, sweet potatoes and vegetables or to gather soon-to-be-dead chickens or to make boxes that, frankly, will probably not be necessary this year.
Alabama’s farmers also say they’d love to 'open up' jobs to U.S. born citizens and legal immigrants so they can harvest fruits, sweet potatoes and vegetables and gather chickens and make boxes ... but U.S. born citizens and legal immigrants simply will not ‘sweat in fields and get dirty' for minimum wage.
Hmmm.
I'm certain that Congressman Chaffetz and 37 co-sponsors of the 'Legal Workforce Act' know everything there is to know about the Alabama ‘takedown’ ... so, what’s really going on here?
Why are they lying about 'opening up' jobs for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants?
Could Republicans in Congress be using this 'Legal Workforce Act' as a way to get something they've wanted for years?
Like a national ID law?
Hmmm.
While the ‘Legal Workforce Act’ won't do a thing to ‘open-up’ jobs for U.S. citizens and legal immigrants, it will allow the Department of Homeland Security to have the exclusive right to a national database containing information about the identities of every employee in the nation.
I know what you’re thinking; “So what, Davy? The IRS and the Social Security Administration already have that information. What's the big deal?"
I wouldn't be a big deal ... but for one little problem: Republican Representative Lamar Smith from Texas, the guy who's driving this bill, added a little codicil to the ‘Legal Workforce Act’ that allows DHS to make the database available to “anyone who is responsible for administering, granting access to, protecting, operating, or regulating part of the critical infrastructure".
In other words, any government agency could access the database and rummage through personal information on millions of U.S. citizens and legal immigrants for any purpose at any time with no Constitutional limitations.
Scary!
Supporters of this bill will say that E-Verify is a fail-safe program and that American employers and employees shouldn’t be afraid of it. The American Civil Liberties Union, however, recently said that their studies indicate that if E-Verify had been mandatory in 2010, more than a million Americans would have had to ask DHS, an agency noted for its incompetence, to correct their records before starting a new job.
Clearly, Congressman Jason Chaffetz and his erstwhile co-sponsors are wasting their time and our money with the ‘Legal Workforce Act’ ... it won't create any jobs and it'll only give us a national ID program we don't need or want.
If you'd like to ask Jason who would harvest fruits, sweet potatoes and vegetables, gather soon-to-be-dead chickens and make boxes in the other 49 states if the 'Legal Workforce Act' became law, send an Email to: UT03JCIMA@mail.house.gov.
Won't it be interesting to find out how Congressman Chaffetz answers that question?
If you’d like to know who in Congress sponsors the 'Legal Workforce Act', let us know and we'll send you a list by name, state and Congressional district, or if you’d like to make a comment, feel free to contact the author at editorial@ethicscount.org
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