You can view yesterday’s the two hour long Senate Subcommittee’s hearing on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship here on C-Span. The focus of the hearing was worksite enforcement, considered the linchpin of successful immigration reform, with the aim of fixing some of the flaws in the new immigration bill when it reaches joint conference.
Concluded: adequate enforcement would require a combination of new
(1) technology, including a biometric-based system of identification;
(2) processes such as the sharing of agency databases, measures to ensure data accuracy, and substantially increased penalties for employers; and
(3) personnel for the agencies; currently, ICE has 90 full-time equivalent employees to enforce the laws for every employer in the country; the bulk of the cost of replacing social security cards is in the interviewing and scrutiny of documents for eligibility.
Chairing the subcommittee was John Cronyn (R- TX).
The first panel included:
- Stewart Baker, Homeland Security Dept. Ass’t Sec. for Policy, nominated in July 2005 when he was a partner at Steptoe & Johnson in Washington, D.C.;
- Julie Myers, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary – over ICE (Immigration & Customers Enforcement), a recess appointment in February 2006, former prosecutor and special assistant to Pres. Bush for Presidential Personnel, no immigration experience but married to Chertoff’s current chief of staff;
- Martin Gerry, Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs, Social Security Administration, who testified about the social security card process;
The second panel included:
- Richard Stana, GAO – Homeland Security and Justice Director, who audits homeland security programs;
- Stewart Verdery, former Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for border and transportation security policy and planning, now an adjunct fellow at think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies;
- Cecilia Munoz, National Council of La Raza, V. P. Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation, recipient of 2000 fellowship from John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and
- Linda Dodd-Major, immigration attorney and former Director of the INS Business Liaison Office, now an expert for Windstar Technologies
Panel members discussed problems with IRCA, the immigration legislation of 1986 which contained an amnesty program and a promised solution of preventing illegal immigration via employer review of work authorization documents. Noted:
The fraudulent document industry is extremely profitable. Employers are not detectives.
The Social Security Administration, which processes W-2’s for the IRS, is prohibited by law from releasing its data for immigration enforcement.
Employers generally have evaded detection of immigration law violations. The INS (now Homeland Security) and SSA often fail to return verification calls within the prescribed 30-day period. After September 11, Homeland Security focused its resources on sensitive industries, infrastructure, airports, and the like.
Worksite arrests for immigration violations in 2004 numbered 159, down from the 1999 arrests totalling 2849. Raids have abated.
After extensive litigation, employers negotiate fines down to a settlement considered the cost of doing business.
Virtually nothing has been done about employers who are self-employed. Small ‘taters.
Employers take advantage of unauthorized workers, confident they won’t be reported for dirt-poor wages, unhealthy conditions, and harassment.
Give me a break. The changes needed for worksite enforcement won’t happen. Nobody wants to spend a billion dollars to revamp social security cards or fully fund Homeland Security and ICE. Electronic verification will not deter the use of someone else’s social security number. Employers will continue to wear the government down in litigation and then negotiate the penalties.
The bureaucracy is overwhelmed. Three years after the INS was transformed into the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security, the caseload has not improved. Papers aren’t processed until months after they’re submitted, and hearings take even longer to be scheduled. It was over four years before the hearing on my daughter-in-law’s petition, so long that shortly after gaining residency without conditions she applied for citizenship.
I don’t know who these senators think they’re fooling. They may be driven by polls indicating that half the public believes the best way to reduce illegal immigration from Mexico is by penalizing employers. Nevertheless, no proof has appeared that unauthorized workers are beating out citizens to fill job vacancies in the first place — a lot of assumptions, but no proof. And no proof has emerged that increased border patrols will affect the 45% of illegal immigrants who have overstayed their visas.
Only the ignorant use immigrants as scapegoats, especially ignorant politicians eager to raise their ratings.
