Thread: Immigration reform rests on a national worker ID

The Monitor's Editorial Board – Tue Mar 9, 12:21 pm ET

During their day-to-day activities in public, some 10 million people in the United States live a lie. They pretend to be legal residents when they are not.

It is this corrosive wearing away of the rule of law in America that should be a prime concern as President Obama launches a new effort this month to fix the nation’s broken immigration system.

Mr. Obama faces rising pressure from Hispanic activists to fulfill a campaign promise for “comprehensive” reform. They plan a large rally in Washington March 21 to demand action. They know that any bill must start moving through Congress by May to stand a chance of passage this year.

And if lawmakers also fail to provide a “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants, Hispanic groups plan to punish Democrats in the fall elections. After all, they argue, it is their increasing clout in US politics that helped put Obama in the White House.

The president’s best chance to resolve this issue, however, remains in first showing that government can enforce immigration laws, further stemming illegal border crossings and decreasing the high number of immigrants who overstay their visas. Without rigorous enforcement – that is sustainable for years – any sort of amnesty for illegal immigrants would only invite more unlawful migration.

This week, Obama plans to start working on reform with a bipartisan team in the Senate, Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Lindsey Graham. A key idea coming from the senators is a new ID system to prevent employers from hiring illegal workers.

Such hiring only serves as a powerful magnet for people in other countries, especially Mexico, to risk their lives and break American law to reach the US.

The idea is to require a national ID card for legal workers using the latest technology in preventing fraud, such as biometric data about a person’s fingerprints or the veins on the backs of hands. It would be a different kind of identification system than already exists with a Social Security card or with the federal effort since 2005 to standardize state driver’s licenses. And it would either supplant or supplement a current system called E-Verify, in which employers can check an applicant’s status through a federal database.

The problems with E-Verify have been many – it is voluntary, fails to flag many illegal workers, and is prone to fraud. Employers seeking low-wage workers have little incentive to use it.

Obama could quickly reduce the nation’s high jobless rate with passage of a law requiring legal residents and Americans, even teenagers, to obtain a federal ID as legal workers. Migrants working outside the law would then be forced to come clean on their illegal activity, leave the country, and perhaps properly apply for a US visa – as millions of law-abiding people do around the world who wait years to enter the US.

To reach full employment, Obama needs to create about 8 million jobs – or nearly the number of illegal immigrants in the US.

After nearly 14 months in office, the president still needs to show a firm commitment to immigration enforcement. His record so far is mixed.

He seeks more funding for E-Verify and a program called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) that screens applicants for welfare programs. But his proposed budget would also reduce the size of the border patrol by 180 officers and cut funding for the Southwest border fences.

And the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has all but ended federal raids on workplaces with a large number of illegal workers – raids which would need to be done humanely – in favor a more narrow focus on deporting illegals with criminal records.

Under Obama, local police are no longer encouraged to enforce federal immigration law, although local officials are receiving federal help in checking the legal status of people in county and city jails.

The last attempt by Congress at immigration reform failed in 2007 when it became clear that Americans wanted to see a long-term track record on immigration enforcement. The decline in the number of illegal aliens by about a million since January 2008, while aided by a recession, indicates that enforcement works.

An easy victory for Obama this year would be the passage of a national worker ID program along with other stepped-up enforcement measures. Only after that should Congress address what to do with the remaining immigrants who still live in the shadow of the law.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100309...1pZ3JhdGlvbnI-

The problems with E-Verify have been many – it is voluntary, fails to flag many illegal workers, and is prone to fraud. Employers seeking low-wage workers have little incentive to use it.

Step one : make the enforcement of the current laws a priority.
Step two : Make verivication of a persons immigration/citizenship status a legal and binding requirement.
Step three : Fine and even jail employers who do not follow the rules.


52 Comments

"Obama could quickly reduce the nation’s high jobless rate with passage of a law requiring legal residents and Americans, even teenagers, to obtain a federal ID as legal workers" This brings back memories of my youth and those black and white movies where men in long leather coats and thick German accents (Gestapo) demand identity papers

By the way if the Monitor's Editorial Board is demanding ID's of Americans how about the Editorial Board identifying itself (individually) rather than concealing their identities. Perhaps they are illegal aliens - excuse me - undocumented immigrants.

This would be an intolerable intrusion. There are, to be sure, many situations already where the state can demand I prove my identity, and these are already too frequent and to ubiqjuitous. But for the state to start issuing a mandatory national ID, and demand I produce it when going about my lawful affairs? Not done.

The CSM's conveniently anonymous editorial board is dead wrong on this.

A national ID card and automatic prison time (as in many years) for employers of illegals would do for a start. Follow that with prison time for employers who abuse the Hxxx Visa and Green Card programs. Finally the loss of citizenship and deportation of managers who export jobs overseas.

give more funding to the boarder patrol, deport the illegals, and raise the fines on hiring illegals so high that,so they will not do it again

To impact illegal aliens the fastest, do not work them or use anyone that does. That means do not eat at dining places that use illegal aliens. Do not use roofing crews, concrete finishers, carpenter crews, tire repair, lawn mowing, tree cutters, highway workers, etc. Make city contractors for landscaping, remodeling contractors working on government projects document their workers. We had a sercurity guard fired in Oklahoma because he refused to allow an illegal alien on the base. The commander should have been brought up on charges. Instead a guard doing the job he was hired to do, was fired. Wake up America, the problem is under your nose every time you eat a taco or burrito off one of those street side trucks selling undocumented food or services. You did it to yourselves. If they can't speak english well I will not hire them at all. I do not care where they say they're from!!!! Illegal aliens are criminals. Trespassers, anyone that supports them is a criminal , too Whether they're trespassing in the country or your home they're just as criminal. They should be shot on sight like the vermin they are!!!

"T P O" THE PHANTOM OKIE"

Why, oh why, do illegal immigrants think they should have some parity with tax-paying American citizens?

Why must we American come second to illegal immigrants ? They were not born here; instead comitted a crime to be here.

What about the costs of education, health and welfare for their anchor babies? Why do mentally ill Americans stand in line behind these ingrates?

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

So citizens have to give up their freedom and privacy because the government won't do it job!!!!!

The resentment building against Obama and his adminitration is growing faster than the idiot could ever imagine.

There are not enough jobs for the american people ,why would we be so stupid too give a person from a nother country our job.believe me we are doing all kinds of work ,just so we can eat.Scrapping by and hoping for betters times.

Would you buy a used car from either Schumer or Graham ? I damn sure wouldn't. No national ID.

Period.

Obama says he's committed to immigration overhaul
Darlene Superville, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 46 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Thursday assured immigration advocates frustrated by the wait for a promised overhaul of U.S. immigration laws that he remains committed to fixing a system he has said is broken. What remains unclear is whether Congress will send him a bill this year.

Obama also met separately later in the day with Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who gave the president an outline of a bill they are drafting. Obama said afterward in a statement that he "looked forward to reviewing their promising framework."

Obama said he told the senators and the advocacy groups that "my commitment to comprehensive immigration reform is unwavering, and that I will continue to be their partner in this important effort."

The immigration issue is an important one for Obama, who has promised to work to solve the problem. Hispanics voted heavily for Obama in the 2008 presidential election, making the difference in key states like Florida, and their votes will be critical in the November midterm elections when Obama and his fellow Democrats will be fighting to maintain control of the House and Senate.

Latino voters who don't think progress is being made on the issue may not go to the polls.

Graham said he told Obama "in no uncertain terms" that the immigration effort could stall in Congress if the health care bill, which Republicans oppose, moves forward under a special process known as budget reconciliation that would limit the GOP's ability to derail the bill in the Senate.

"Using reconciliation to push health care through will make it much harder for Congress to come together on a topic as important as immigration," Graham said.

Schumer said he and Graham asked Obama for help building support in the Senate for an immigration bill, and getting business and labor groups to agree on the future flow of lower-skilled labor.

The South Carolina Republican said Obama also promised to help resolve outstanding issues pertaining to "virtual fencing" along the border with Mexico to detect people trying to enter the U.S. illegally, and creation of a temporary worker program that is satisfactory to business.

Another idea on the table is some type of high-tech Social Security card to keep illegal immigrants from getting jobs.

After meeting for more than an hour with Obama, immigration advocates told reporters they want Schumer and Graham to at least release their blueprint before a planned March 21 demonstration at the Capitol, with a bill introduced in the Senate soon after.

The relatively short timetable for getting major legislation out of Congress in a midterm election year is one obstacle to getting a bill that combines tougher border enforcement with a pathway to legalization for the estimated 12 million people in the U.S. illegally.

"We had a very good discussion about the difficulties," said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union. "I think the president is well aware of it. So are we."

Medina said the groups also want to discuss the issue with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Republican leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Clarissa Martinez de Castro, director of immigration and national campaigns for the National Council of La Raza, said Obama told the groups he would make a statement with Schumer and Graham when they release the blueprint.

"It is undeniable that presidential leadership, greater presidential leadership is needed, and the president committed to doing that," she said.

Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said the president agreed to help get a legislative framework out before the rally. She the groups also discussed enforcement.

"We want results," Salas said. "That's what we're going to be expecting in the next couple of weeks."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100312/...FtYXNheXNoZXM-

1,260 Comments

I hope something positive is done. I sincerely hope comments will be positive, since we know the truth as to who existed here first, before this country became The USA.

A line has been crossed and it isn't immigration anymore its invasion.

Subsidizing having children and giving government welfare to our neighbors is a recipe for disaster. Dems should be happy, more poverty to fuel votes for themselves, and corporate should be happy to have more people to exploit. In the end only the American people lose

These idiots and their congressional cronies can't even resolve the Estate Tax situation. How on Earth can they tackle immigration....jees...

You won't even need to deport them. Just ban ALL services without proof they are legally in the USA. No job, no housing, no welfare and no support systems. Eliminate the "anchor baby". Only give them US citizenship if the parents are here legally. They would leave on their own.

He can get that done after he is done bashing teachers.

With unemployment so high, why would anyone support legalizing people who broke the law. They will take the jobs of American citizens and this economic recovery will last even longer. The African American neighborhoods and other minority communities will be the one's hurt the most as illegals take jobs that many of those communities depend on. The state of California is broke, how can we afford to pay for more anchor babies, and their families. Remember if this passes, everyone here already will most likely be able to bring other relatives from their home countires...only adding to the devastating financial burden.

You want results! pack the Illegal criminals in busses and take them back where they came from!!

: The amendment was put in place to protect the freed slaves and their familiesx after the Civil War. It has long passed it's intent and is only being abused to the detriment of the American citizens and the people who had the respect for our country and its laws and choose to follow the legal process of immigration.

Department of Homeland Security Immigration Agencies Fall Short[i]
by: William Fisher Truthout Report

As the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) celebrates its seventh anniversary, its immigration agencies are struggling to "create more humane ways to enforce broken laws" - but trying to enforce their way out of a broken immigration system is ultimately "a losing proposition." That was the conclusion reached in a new report on immigration that faulted the sprawling agency for "lack of transparency."

The report, titled "DHS Progress Report: The Challenge of Reform," was released by the Immigration Policy Center (IPC), the research and policy arm of the American Immigration Council. It attempts to measure DHS actions over the past year against recommendations made to the Obama transition team's immigration policy group.

The "Transition Blueprint," produced by a wide range of immigration advocates, focused on "administrative improve-ments that would instill fairness, create efficiencies, and build support for comprehensive immigration reform in several key areas: due process, enforcement, detention, family immigration, naturalization, immigrant integration, and asylum."

DHS's seventh anniversary also corresponds to the due date set by Secretary Janet Napolitano for completion of a sweeping internal review of DHS. In her first full week on the job, Secretary Napolitano issued a directive instruct-ing every agency to "thoroughly assess its current programs,resources, and efficiencies to identify areas in need of reform."

The results of these reviews have not been made public, the report noted, "so it is impossible to determine whether a rigorous self-assessment took place, but the Department's actions over the following year suggest that tinkering with the immigration enforcement regime rather than genuinely reforming it was the top priority of the Administration."

A co-author of the report, Mary Giovagnoli, director of the IPC, told Truthout she believes DHS Secretary Napolitano and the people she has brought in to staff the immigration agencies "are professionals who are dedicated to improvement, but are trapped in a world of competing entrenched interests and laws that are popular with Congress but which don't actually work."

She praised officials at DHS's immigration agencies for "their willingness to stay engaged" with the immigration advocacy community. However, she added, "By the end of the Bush Administration that community's level of trust and confidence was so low that we always knew it was going to take time to rebuild."

She recalled that after DHS's founding in 2002, "It was so large that it took three or four years for the agency's management to understand exactly what they had in the immigration field."

Noting that 2009 "was largely about promises and aspirations," she said, "Whether DHS can make good on these promises remains to be seen." However, she added, "That process has started."

Giovagnoli served as an attorney with the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security - serving first as a trial attorney and associate general counsel with the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and, following the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, as an associate chief counsel for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). She was also awarded a Congressional fellowship from USCIS to serve for a year in Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's office, where she worked on comprehensive immigration reform and refugee issues.

Her co-author, Royce Bernstein Murray, worked as associate counsel on the Refugee and Asylum Law Division in the USCIS Office of the Chief Counsel for five years, during which time she advised a range of humanitarian immigration programs. Previously, she served as an asylum officer presidential management fellow for the INS Office of International Affairs.

The IPC report examined the DHS immigration apparatus - Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and USCIS.

The examination revealed that DHS is struggling with the challenges of reform - both administrative and legislative - and "finds itself attempting to create more humane ways to enforce broken laws, which is ultimately a losing proposition."

The report concluded that DHS "is still trying to enforce programs like Operation Streamline, a program which requires mandatory criminal prosecutions of non-violent border crossers, clogs the federal court system and drains resources that could be used to prosecute more serious criminals. DHS is also expanding partnerships with state and local law enforcement agencies (Secure Communities and 287(g) programs) in their search for 'criminal aliens.' These programs often identify people with no criminal history and persons 'identified' but found not to be deportable."

The report said that the first year under the administration of President Barack Obama "was both promising and frustrating." It describes "a year where the promise of reform seems to fight daily with the dynamics of an entrenched belief in an enforcement driven culture. For every two steps forward, it seems that the Department takes one step backward, inching its way toward a more humane and just system."

It cautioned that the immigration system is "living on borrowed time," adding, "Without immigration reform that gives DHS the breathing room to do the right thing, annual reviews will increasingly be catalogs of more enforcement measures without corresponding opportunities for immigrants to make the kinds of contributions to our country that enrich us all."

The report was particularly critical of DHS's enforcement priorities, arrangements with local law enforcement agencies and asylum and detention procedures. It said, "While DHS professes to have re-focused its attention on non-compliant employers in the workplace and prosecuting non-citizens with serious criminal convictions, data indicates that employers and violent criminals make up a small percentage of enforcement targets."

ICE prioritized detention reform in 2009, specifically addressing issues of oversight, alternatives to detention, health care and parole. "While advocates have welcomed these initiatives, they continue to look for meaningful changes in the day-to-day management of facilities and decisions to detain," the report said.

It noted that DHS has continued to expand its partnership with state and local law-enforcement agencies, particularly through the Secure Communities and 287(g) programs.

The Secure Communities and 287(g) programs enlist the help of local law enforcement agencies to apprehend and detain people suspected of being illegal aliens. The programs have been widely criticized by police chiefs and sheriffs throughout the country for diverting local resources into activities for which they are not trained, and arresting and detaining people for petty offenses.

DHS claims these programs target "criminal aliens." However, people identified by these programs "include large numbers of individuals with no criminal history, individuals charged (but not convicted) of crimes, and persons 'identified' but not found to be deportable."

Due process is an area in which DHS has made little tangible progress, the report said. For example, "While the registration component of NSEERS, a special registration program targeted at men from predominantly Muslim countries, was suspended in 2003, applicants applying for benefits continue to be plagued by mistakes made during the registration process, affecting their ability to adjust status or naturalize."

The immigration court system remains overburdened, access to counsel is limited and a streamlined appeals process offers inadequate review for many claims, the report charged.

It said there is "no evidence of progress in implementing the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom's recommendations for improving the expedited removal system for asylum seekers. The resolution of cases involving 'material support' (of terrorism) continue to face delays that keep legitimate asylum seekers from receiving protection."

The report recommended that DHS should create an ICE ombudsman to investigate complaints, monitor enforcement strategies and recommend personnel actions in response to complaints.

To improve the conditions of detainees, ICE "should hire a Senior Advisor on Detainee Health, as the agency announced it would do last August, to maximize the effectiveness of the detainee healthcare group meetings and development of a medical classification system."

ICE has been severely criticized for operating a network of detention facilities that fail to meet even minimum health standards. There have been more than a dozen deaths in detention because of failure to provide timely medical assistance in emergencies. Detainees also complain that the facilities offer little or no due process, principally, access to their lawyers. Detention also often takes place far from the place where the detainee was apprehended, making it difficult to access legal help, families and records.

To improve performance in the asylum area, the report recommends, the Department should "create a Refugee Protection Office that would report directly to the DHS Secretary or Deputy Secretary. Coordinated efforts would increase the ability of DHS to quickly resolve lingering disputes such as resolution on material support and implementation of proposals to improve expedited removal for asylum-seekers."

While praising the DHS for a number of positive developments, the report finds "the spirit of reform is often stymied by an over-reliance on existing enforcement policies."

Obama backs senators immigration overhaul outline
Suzanne Gamboa, Associated Press Writer – 1 min ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is backing an immigration bill outline drafted by two senators that says illegal immigrants must admit they broke the law to become citizens.

Obama says in a statement that the outline of a bill Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Lindsey Graham are crafting addresses border security and demands accountability from illegal immigrants and employers who hire them.

He says the critical next step is to translate their outline into legislation.

Obama's statement comes just three days before tens of thousands of immigrants and their supporters plan to rally in Washington to press the administration and Congress to pass immigration reform.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100318/...FtYWJhY2tzc2U-

PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama in immigration dance
Darlene Superville, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 48 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama promised to make overhauling the immigration system a top priority in his first year as president. He's now in Year Two, and the odds that he'll get to sign a bill before the November midterm elections appear long.

Grass-roots activists frustrated by the wait for a new system are organizing a rally Sunday on the National Mall by what they hope will be thousands of people from across the country voicing their displeasure at the pace of action.

In meetings last week, Obama sought to assure activists and the two senators who are drafting a bill of his "unwavering" commitment to comprehensive immigration overhaul. But the White House has also signaled that the issue is not among the legislative priorities it wants completed before the entire House and one-third of the Senate face voters in November.

Asked about the priorities after health care, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said financial regulation, energy legislation and watering down a recent Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance are among the "big priorities" — not to mention jobs and the economy.

Gibbs said nothing would happen on immigration without strong bipartisan support. "It's got to be more than the president wants to get something done," he said.

How to handle the estimated 12 million people in the U.S. illegally is a volatile issue, with some interests opposing any attempt to help them become citizens and others insisting on stronger border controls first. Lawmakers failed to agree in 2006 and 2007 when they last tried to overhaul the immigration system, and the political climate this year is tougher than it was back then.

Advocates remain hopeful and say Congress has plenty of time to send Obama a bill by November.

Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., released an outline of their bill Thursday, and Obama pledged "to do everything in my power" to get immigration legislation moving through Congress this year.

The outline calls for illegal immigrants who want to get on the path to legal status to admit they broke the law by entering the U.S., pay fines and back taxes, and perform community service. They also would be required to pass background checks and be proficient in English before working toward legal residency, required before becoming a citizen.

Advocates welcomed the outline, but would prefer an actual bill in Congress.

"Now it's up to Congress and the president to advance legislation that combines these elements," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the immigration advocacy group America's Voice. "Given how long we have been debating the need for comprehensive immigration reform, the American people want and deserve nothing less."

Rally organizer Gabe Gonzalez credited pressure by grass-roots groups for progress on the issue.

Obama has put Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in charge of overseeing the immigration overhaul effort, and she has sought support for it in dozens of meetings with lawmakers from both parties since the beginning of last year.

Her department also has taken steps to improve the existing system by focusing deportations of undocumented immigrants on those with criminal histories and by going after employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants, rather than the workers themselves.

But those steps haven't eased the anger and disappointment felt by immigration advocates and Latinos, who voted heavily for Obama in the 2008 presidential election largely because of his promise.

Obama has said the system needs to be fixed to better track who comes in and out of the U.S., crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers and help those people come out of the shadows and contribute to society, including paying taxes. He wants them to register, pay a fine, learn English and not skip ahead of anyone already in the citizenship pipeline.

"It will be one of my priorities on my first day (as president) because this is an issue that we have demagogued," candidate Obama told the National Association of Latino Elected Officials in June 2008. "There's been a lot of politics around it, but we haven't been serious about solving the problem. And I want to solve the problem."

He told the League of United Latin American Citizens the following month: "I will make it a top priority in my first year as president."

Five months after taking office, Obama said after a White House meeting in June 2009 with a bipartisan group of about 30 lawmakers that immigration overhaul would be a difficult undertaking. But he said work on it must get under way that year.

By August 2009, the rhetoric had changed.

Asked about immigration overhaul at a news conference during a visit to Mexico, Obama said changing the system would have to wait until 2010 while he focused on other priorities, such as overhauling the health care and financial regulatory systems.

In appearances after that, Obama promised action but dropped references to any timetable.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100320/...9taXNlc3Byb20-

A line has been crossed and it isn't immigration anymore its invasion. Subsidizing having children and giving government welfare to our neighbors is a recipe for disaster. Dems should be happy, more poverty to fuel votes for themselves, and corporate should be happy to have more people to exploit. In the end only the American people lose...

You won't even need to deport them. Just ban ALL services without proof they are legally in the USA. No job, no housing, no welfare and no support systems. Eliminate the "anchor baby". Only give them US citizenship if the parents are here legally. They would leave on there own

With unemployment so high, why would anyone support legalizing people who broke the law. They will take the jobs of American citizens and this economic recovery will last even longer. The African American neighborhoods and other minority communities will be the one's hurt the most as illegals take jobs that many of those communities depend on. The state of California is broke, how can we afford to pay for more anchor babies, and their families. Remember if this passes, everyone here already will most likely be able to bring other relatives from their home countires...only adding to the devastating financial burden.