House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith Outlines Plan for New Congress

Friday, January 7, 2011, 1:37 PM EST - posted on NumbersUSA

House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith

New House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) wrote an op-ed for Politico.com that outlines his committee's plan for the new Congress when it comes to immigration. Chairman Smith says that a top priority will be to oversee the enforcement of federal immigration laws, which will potentially free up 7 million jobs held by illegal aliens for America's unemployed.

"We could open up jobs for millions of U.S. workers if we just enforced immigration laws. Work site enforcement efforts ensure jobs go to unemployed citizens and legal immigrants. Unfortunately, enforcement has dropped by 70 percent in the past two years. And with less enforcement, the jobs magnet continues to encourage illegal immigration."

Chairman Smith says the key to ending the jobs magnet in the United States is to mandate the use of E-Verify for all employers nationwide.

"Promoting the use of E-Verify is another way we can help make sure scarce jobs go to legal workers. E-Verify is the federal government’s program that enables companies to hire legal workers by verifying the Social Security numbers provided by new employees. More than 225,000 employers, large and small, use E-Verify to check the employment eligibility of applicants, and thousands of new businesses are signing up each month. We should expand this program."

Comment:

Sounds reasonable, right? Electronic verification that you're eligible to work in the United States. It makes sense. Yet there are some who claim it to be unconstitutional. Yet these people cannot seem to say why, other than it denies people the right to work. Evidently they just don't understand current labour laws. These laws state that unless you are a citizen, have a green card, or guest worker permit, you may not be employed in this country. So how could E-Verify be unconstitutional? Comrades, it isn't. It's perfectly legal.

Forty states have or soon will have E-Verify. Naturally, California is one of the ten who don't. Anyone surprised?