States sue to rein in Obama's illegal amnesty

[RKMBrown]

1986 ..... Ronald Reagan signed a sweeping immigration reform bill into law. It was sold as a crackdown: There would be tighter security at the Mexican border, and employers would face strict penalties for hiring undocumented workers.
But the bill also made any immigrant who'd entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty ..

same shit, different day .. not one Republican burned the town down either .

Then the enforcement never happened... in fact more people than ever came across the border and the employers? ROFL they laughed.

exactly like I'm laughing now.

we need more immigration laws .. more I tell you !!

because we can't enforce the ones we have .... LMAO

Exactly.. Our problem isn't the illegals. It's the people we elect that refuse to do their job.

 

[Care4all]

1986 ..... Ronald Reagan signed a sweeping immigration reform bill into law. It was sold as a crackdown: There would be tighter security at the Mexican border, and employers would face strict penalties for hiring undocumented workers.
But the bill also made any immigrant who'd entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty ..

same shit, different day .. not one Republican burned the town down either .

Then the enforcement never happened... in fact more people than ever came across the border and the employers? ROFL they laughed.

That's because at the last minute, at the 11th hour, Congress critterrs watered down the bill, and lessoned the penalties on employers due to the bequest of the Small Business Association and other groups representing employers AND because Congress did not FUND the border security measures that they passed.

THIS WAS NOT REAGAN's idea nor what he recommended in the immigration reform, but what Congress critters did to the bill, behind closed doors.

This is the REASON it failed....

And Congress critters will try to water it down again, BUT WE ARE WISE TO THEM NOW, and we can't let them.

 

[ShaklesOfBigGov]

funny, the Republicans passed the same immigration reform years past, and now they don't like it ?

Of course they don't like it. If they passed it Obama might sign it and that would be fraternizing with the enemy.

We made the mistake of allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens without putting a plan in place to enforce the problem that caused it in the first place. Now we have come full circle to where we were once before, and you expect for us to not learn from the mistakes of the past and simply allow the endless circle to continue? We have already seen the end result of legalization without enforcement, without sealing the border, and BILLIONS thrown away supporting illegals when it would have been cheaper to build a wall or allow our national guard to patrol it through military enforcement. Other nations take the enforcement of their borders more seriously than we do.

 

[Spare_change]

Executive Orders and Executive Actions can be reversed by Congress.

Yep, with a 2/3 vote of both the House and Senate Republicans can pass legislation to nullifies it and overrides a presidential veto. However, since Republicans have only 56% of the House and 54% of the Senate, there is almost no chance of it happening.

Sorry --- you missed on this one.

1) A 2/3 vote in both houses is required to override a VETO.

2) Congress can override an executive order, or executive action, simply by passing a law that conflicts with it. In this case, for example, Congress can pass a law that says the President may not grant immigration rights or benefits to illegal immigrants. That would certainly be feasible in the current Congressional structure.

If congress passes a law to override an executive order, and the president veto's it, as he certainly would, then the bill must be passed by a 2/3 vote in both houses to override the veto.

Republicans would probably vote in a block to override, however they would need approximately 45 Democrats in the House and 12 Democrats in the Senate and that would be nearly impossible. Senate Democrat support for Obama's Executive order is nearly unanimous in the Senate and enjoys strong support among House Democrats.

I would suggest that those Democrats running for re-election in 2016, and needing to distance themselves from Obama and amnesty (remember, most Americans oppose this), could easily be persuaded to vote to override.

Be interesting to find out ....

Depending on the poll, Democrat support of the Executive Order, which of course is not really an executive order runs from 67% to 91%.


Obama Surging As Second Poll Find Broad National Support For Immigration Executive Action
Only Democrats support Obama s executive order on immigration

Well, actually ...

"The survey of 1,001 likely voters found that 61 percent say they disapprove of the president’s job on immigration, while 32 percent say they approve. That’s worse than his overall job approval rating (57 percent disapprove, 40 percent approve). Furthermore, 74 percent say they would rather Obama work with Congress to change the country’s immigration policy, while only 21 percent say they support his doing so “on his own” through executive action. The numbers on executive action versus working with Congress are lopsided among both conservatives and moderates, with only self-professed liberals favoring a “go-it-alone” path on immigration. Obama has suggested he may act on his own on immigration after the comprehensive reform bill he supported has stalled in the House of Representatives." Poll Voters Overwhelmingly Oppose Executive Action On Immigration The Weekly Standard

THAT is a recipe for political suicide.

 

[Spare_change]

Shut up, Shakles, with worthless false comparison fallacies.

Pass some sort of legislation that Obama can sign.

We are not going to mass deport the illegals.

A vast majority won't go for citizenship without action supported by Obama that seals up the borders. We need to take measures to prevent this problem from reoccurring, which includes going after companies who hire them and states who harbor them through sanctuary cities. The. Congress holds the purse strings through a majority of both chambers o the legislative branch, if Obama won't compromise a deal, nothing will get done.... It's on his shoulders. The Democrats lost both majorities already, are they ready to learn their lesson yet and listen to the people?

I agree, and congress needs to write this immigration reform that includes border security, and penalizing those who hire illegals etc...

along with amnesty for those parents of American citizens etc...

this is what congress should be working on right now.

Obama has NEVER spoken against border security or spoken against penalizing those who hire illegals...

a comprehensive immigration reform bill would be signed by him.

The problem is Obama would grant the amnesty and ignore closing the border. He lied about Obamacare to get it passed and cannot be trusted to enforce any law that he disagrees with. I will remind you that the word 'comprehensive' in front of any bill passed by Congress stands for a lot of bad stuff in the bill.

Neither Obama nor any president is going to close the boarder. . It is the most frequently crossed international border in the world, with approximately 350 million crossings being made annually.

Ahhh, to live in the world of absolutes .... nobody says to CLOSE the border, we want somebody to CONTROL the border. Let legal immigrants immigrate, keep illegal immigrants out. It's really not THAT hard to understand.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Tha'ts fine, spare-change. Along with business enforcement and immigration reform in the same bill.

 

[Spare_change]

Tha'ts fine, spare-change. Along with business enforcement and immigration reform in the same bill.

Given the history of Democrats reneging on immigration, a bill that controlled the border, and penalized businesses would certainly be the right first step. "You get what you want, AFTER we get what we want".

Once that is approved, then, and only then, would the illegal immigrant situation be stabilized, and appropriate actions can be defined. Controlling the border should have nothing to do with managing illegal immigrants already in-country.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Giving the history of BOTH parties failing to live up to promises, it's time they both get right, yes?

All three or nothing. Your nonsense about "controlling" the border is nonsense without all three taken care of at the same time. And I know the far right in my GOP will renege on promises. We have problems with the assholes reneging on a compromise bill passed in our legislature last year.

Get your act together.

 

[RKMBrown]

1986 ..... Ronald Reagan signed a sweeping immigration reform bill into law. It was sold as a crackdown: There would be tighter security at the Mexican border, and employers would face strict penalties for hiring undocumented workers.
But the bill also made any immigrant who'd entered the country before 1982 eligible for amnesty ..

same shit, different day .. not one Republican burned the town down either .

Then the enforcement never happened... in fact more people than ever came across the border and the employers? ROFL they laughed.

That's because at the last minute, at the 11th hour, Congress critterrs watered down the bill, and lessoned the penalties on employers due to the bequest of the Small Business Association and other groups representing employers AND because Congress did not FUND the border security measures that they passed.

THIS WAS NOT REAGAN's idea nor what he recommended in the immigration reform, but what Congress critters did to the bill, behind closed doors.

This is the REASON it failed....

And Congress critters will try to water it down again, BUT WE ARE WISE TO THEM NOW, and we can't let them.

We were wise to it at the time, we've been wise to it for decades, and yet,... nothing has changed. Nothing. In fact just the opposite. We doubled down by giving them free hospital care, free schooling, in-state tuition, welfare, ... Then we decided why not do that for professional jobs too and brought in millions of "professional" immigrants via h1b visas.

IOW screw the American people we want cheap labor, cheap products, and a dependent citizenry.

 

[JakeStarkey]

It has to change this time with all three components parts with appropriations funded as part of the legislation the second the bill is signed.

 

[Flopper]

Shut up, Shakles, with worthless false comparison fallacies.

Pass some sort of legislation that Obama can sign.

We are not going to mass deport the illegals.

A vast majority won't go for citizenship without action supported by Obama that seals up the borders. We need to take measures to prevent this problem from reoccurring, which includes going after companies who hire them and states who harbor them through sanctuary cities. The. Congress holds the purse strings through a majority of both chambers o the legislative branch, if Obama won't compromise a deal, nothing will get done.... It's on his shoulders. The Democrats lost both majorities already, are they ready to learn their lesson yet and listen to the people?

I agree, and congress needs to write this immigration reform that includes border security, and penalizing those who hire illegals etc...

along with amnesty for those parents of American citizens etc...

this is what congress should be working on right now.

Obama has NEVER spoken against border security or spoken against penalizing those who hire illegals...

a comprehensive immigration reform bill would be signed by him.

The problem is Obama would grant the amnesty and ignore closing the border. He lied about Obamacare to get it passed and cannot be trusted to enforce any law that he disagrees with. I will remind you that the word 'comprehensive' in front of any bill passed by Congress stands for a lot of bad stuff in the bill.

Neither Obama nor any president is going to close the boarder. . It is the most frequently crossed international border in the world, with approximately 350 million crossings being made annually.

Would 'secure the border against those not using the approved entry points' make you any happier?

Despite the "wet back" image so popular in media the vast majority of illegal immigrants living in this country entered though boarder crossings and ports entry. The didn't swim the Rio Grand or cross the burning desert.

 

[TooTall]

A vast majority won't go for citizenship without action supported by Obama that seals up the borders. We need to take measures to prevent this problem from reoccurring, which includes going after companies who hire them and states who harbor them through sanctuary cities. The. Congress holds the purse strings through a majority of both chambers o the legislative branch, if Obama won't compromise a deal, nothing will get done.... It's on his shoulders. The Democrats lost both majorities already, are they ready to learn their lesson yet and listen to the people?

I agree, and congress needs to write this immigration reform that includes border security, and penalizing those who hire illegals etc...

along with amnesty for those parents of American citizens etc...

this is what congress should be working on right now.

Obama has NEVER spoken against border security or spoken against penalizing those who hire illegals...

a comprehensive immigration reform bill would be signed by him.

The problem is Obama would grant the amnesty and ignore closing the border. He lied about Obamacare to get it passed and cannot be trusted to enforce any law that he disagrees with. I will remind you that the word 'comprehensive' in front of any bill passed by Congress stands for a lot of bad stuff in the bill.

Neither Obama nor any president is going to close the boarder. . It is the most frequently crossed international border in the world, with approximately 350 million crossings being made annually.

Would 'secure the border against those not using the approved entry points' make you any happier?

Despite the "wet back" image so popular in media the vast majority of illegal immigrants living in this country entered though boarder crossings and ports entry. The didn't swim the Rio Grand or cross the burning desert.

I would need a reliable link to believe that.

 

[Spare_change]

Giving the history of BOTH parties failing to live up to promises, it's time they both get right, yes?

All three or nothing. Your nonsense about "controlling" the border is nonsense without all three taken care of at the same time. And I know the far right in my GOP will renege on promises. We have problems with the assholes reneging on a compromise bill passed in our legislature last year.

Get your act together.

Nope -- -ain't gonna happen.

1) Liberals have a long standing record of going back on their word when it comes to immigration.
2) You're telling us to clean up the water in the basement before we fix the leaky pipe. Make ZERO sense.
3) There is NO correlation between controlling the border, and dealing with illegal immigrants.

Put up or shut up.

 

[Spare_change]

A vast majority won't go for citizenship without action supported by Obama that seals up the borders. We need to take measures to prevent this problem from reoccurring, which includes going after companies who hire them and states who harbor them through sanctuary cities. The. Congress holds the purse strings through a majority of both chambers o the legislative branch, if Obama won't compromise a deal, nothing will get done.... It's on his shoulders. The Democrats lost both majorities already, are they ready to learn their lesson yet and listen to the people?

I agree, and congress needs to write this immigration reform that includes border security, and penalizing those who hire illegals etc...

along with amnesty for those parents of American citizens etc...

this is what congress should be working on right now.

Obama has NEVER spoken against border security or spoken against penalizing those who hire illegals...

a comprehensive immigration reform bill would be signed by him.

The problem is Obama would grant the amnesty and ignore closing the border. He lied about Obamacare to get it passed and cannot be trusted to enforce any law that he disagrees with. I will remind you that the word 'comprehensive' in front of any bill passed by Congress stands for a lot of bad stuff in the bill.

Neither Obama nor any president is going to close the boarder. . It is the most frequently crossed international border in the world, with approximately 350 million crossings being made annually.

Would 'secure the border against those not using the approved entry points' make you any happier?

Despite the "wet back" image so popular in media the vast majority of illegal immigrants living in this country entered though boarder crossings and ports entry. The didn't swim the Rio Grand or cross the burning desert.

LOL --- it's been 15 years since I've heard the term "wet back" -- and now it's popular in media???? You truly need to catch up ... As for the image, if somebody thinks it's from swimming the Rio Grand [sic], then they are somebody who should be ignored. We have enough problems without listening to the uninformed.

 

[Care4all]

I agree, and congress needs to write this immigration reform that includes border security, and penalizing those who hire illegals etc...

along with amnesty for those parents of American citizens etc...

this is what congress should be working on right now.

Obama has NEVER spoken against border security or spoken against penalizing those who hire illegals...

a comprehensive immigration reform bill would be signed by him.

The problem is Obama would grant the amnesty and ignore closing the border. He lied about Obamacare to get it passed and cannot be trusted to enforce any law that he disagrees with. I will remind you that the word 'comprehensive' in front of any bill passed by Congress stands for a lot of bad stuff in the bill.

Neither Obama nor any president is going to close the boarder. . It is the most frequently crossed international border in the world, with approximately 350 million crossings being made annually.

Would 'secure the border against those not using the approved entry points' make you any happier?

Despite the "wet back" image so popular in media the vast majority of illegal immigrants living in this country entered though boarder crossings and ports entry. The didn't swim the Rio Grand or cross the burning desert.

I would need a reliable link to believe that.

New Pew Report Confirms Visa Overstays Are Driving Increased Illegal Immigration Center for Immigration Studies

Population Decline of Unauthorized Immigrants Stalls May Have Reversed Pew Research Center s Hispanic Trends Project

 

[Flopper]

funny, the Republicans passed the same immigration reform years past, and now they don't like it ?

Of course they don't like it. If they passed it Obama might sign it and that would be fraternizing with the enemy.

We made the mistake of allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens without putting a plan in place to enforce the problem that caused it in the first place. Now we have come full circle to where we were once before, and you expect for us to not learn from the mistakes of the past and simply allow the endless circle to continue? We have already seen the end result of legalization without enforcement, without sealing the border, and BILLIONS thrown away supporting illegals when it would have been cheaper to build a wall or allow our national guard to patrol it through military enforcement. Other nations take the enforcement of their borders more seriously than we do.

We are spending more money on enforcement of immigration laws than all other federal law enforcement combined and our deportation rate has risen 30,000/yr in 1990 to 188,000 in 2000 to 368,000 in 2013. Our boarders are far from being open. We are doing a better job of enforcement that we have ever done.

The solution to the problem is not going to be found in increasing boarder security and deportations but rather eliminating the primary reason people cross our boarders illegally, jobs. Currently an employer hiring illegal immigrants faces only a $250 fine for first offense and it's not levied on the first 10 offenses in a year. ICE raids have increased but they focus only the largest employers which is not where most illegal immigrants work.

The E-Verify system which every employer should be using is voluntary and less than 10% of employers use the system. Most employers either make no attempt to check the legality of the applicant or accept a green card or social security card which can bought for as little as $25.

Immigration law needs to be changed to require all employers to use the E- Verify system or equivalent system and to include the information needed to avoid the false rejections. The fines need to be increase and jail time should be added for habitually offenders.

If there are no jobs available, few will come and many will leave. We could also reduce wait time and cost of entering the country and increase enforcement of visa expirations but jobs are the key.

http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Image_Galleries/immigration_enforcement_in__us_MPI_report.pdf

 

[TooTall]

funny, the Republicans passed the same immigration reform years past, and now they don't like it ?

Of course they don't like it. If they passed it Obama might sign it and that would be fraternizing with the enemy.

We made the mistake of allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens without putting a plan in place to enforce the problem that caused it in the first place. Now we have come full circle to where we were once before, and you expect for us to not learn from the mistakes of the past and simply allow the endless circle to continue? We have already seen the end result of legalization without enforcement, without sealing the border, and BILLIONS thrown away supporting illegals when it would have been cheaper to build a wall or allow our national guard to patrol it through military enforcement. Other nations take the enforcement of their borders more seriously than we do.

We are spending more money on enforcement of immigration laws than all other federal law enforcement combined and our deportation rate has risen 30,000/yr in 1990 to 188,000 in 2000 to 368,000 in 2013. Our boarders are far from being open. We are doing a better job of enforcement that we have ever done.

The solution to the problem is not going to be found in increasing boarder security and deportations but rather eliminating the primary reason people cross our boarders illegally, jobs. Currently an employer hiring illegal immigrants faces only a $250 fine for first offense and it's not levied on the first 10 offenses in a year. ICE raids have increased but they focus only the largest employers which is not where most illegal immigrants work.

The E-Verify system which every employer should be using is voluntary and less than 10% of employers use the system. Most employers either make no attempt to check the legality of the applicant or accept a green card or social security card which can bought for as little as $25.

Immigration law needs to be changed to require all employers to use the E- Verify system or equivalent system and to include the information needed to avoid the false rejections. The fines need to be increase and jail time should be added for habitually offenders.

If there are no jobs available, few will come and many will leave. We could also reduce wait time and cost of entering the country and increase enforcement of visa expirations but jobs are the key.

http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Image_Galleries/immigration_enforcement_in__us_MPI_report.pdf

You make some very good points, but the problem is many, if not most of the illegals work off the clock and are employed by small service companies. Lawn service and roofing are the two that come to mind. In my little town there are a number of companies that are minority owned and employ a dozen or more people who barely speak English. I doubt that they are even interested in using E-Verify.

 

[Spare_change]

funny, the Republicans passed the same immigration reform years past, and now they don't like it ?

Of course they don't like it. If they passed it Obama might sign it and that would be fraternizing with the enemy.

We made the mistake of allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens without putting a plan in place to enforce the problem that caused it in the first place. Now we have come full circle to where we were once before, and you expect for us to not learn from the mistakes of the past and simply allow the endless circle to continue? We have already seen the end result of legalization without enforcement, without sealing the border, and BILLIONS thrown away supporting illegals when it would have been cheaper to build a wall or allow our national guard to patrol it through military enforcement. Other nations take the enforcement of their borders more seriously than we do.

We are spending more money on enforcement of immigration laws than all other federal law enforcement combined and our deportation rate has risen 30,000/yr in 1990 to 188,000 in 2000 to 368,000 in 2013. Our boarders are far from being open. We are doing a better job of enforcement that we have ever done.

The solution to the problem is not going to be found in increasing boarder security and deportations but rather eliminating the primary reason people cross our boarders illegally, jobs. Currently an employer hiring illegal immigrants faces only a $250 fine for first offense and it's not levied on the first 10 offenses in a year. ICE raids have increased but they focus only the largest employers which is not where most illegal immigrants work.

The E-Verify system which every employer should be using is voluntary and less than 10% of employers use the system. Most employers either make no attempt to check the legality of the applicant or accept a green card or social security card which can bought for as little as $25.

Immigration law needs to be changed to require all employers to use the E- Verify system or equivalent system and to include the information needed to avoid the false rejections. The fines need to be increase and jail time should be added for habitually offenders.

If there are no jobs available, few will come and many will leave. We could also reduce wait time and cost of entering the country and increase enforcement of visa expirations but jobs are the key.

http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Image_Galleries/immigration_enforcement_in__us_MPI_report.pdf

Your math amazes me .... we're spending all this money, deporting all these people, the border isn't the problem ... yet, we now have 12 million illegals in this country. If the border wasn't part the problem, where the hell did they all come from? I know, I know ... overstayed visa, etc., etc, etc.

All we are saying is spend money to stop the flow --- build a border, set up monitoring and reporting processes for people on visas, etc. THEN, we'll worry about those in-country. Until then ... nothing.

The only way we can stop the onslaught of illegal aliens is to eliminate the reason they want to come here. Right? That's what you said -- right?

So, let's become a third world country ... ruled by drug lords and tyrants. (I know, I know ---- Obama has us on track for that already). Let's lower the minimum wage to the same as Mexico or Guatemala. Let's corrupt our police, don't pay them enough, so they hire out to the local gang lord.

That oughta do it.

 

[Flopper]

funny, the Republicans passed the same immigration reform years past, and now they don't like it ?

Of course they don't like it. If they passed it Obama might sign it and that would be fraternizing with the enemy.

We made the mistake of allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens without putting a plan in place to enforce the problem that caused it in the first place. Now we have come full circle to where we were once before, and you expect for us to not learn from the mistakes of the past and simply allow the endless circle to continue? We have already seen the end result of legalization without enforcement, without sealing the border, and BILLIONS thrown away supporting illegals when it would have been cheaper to build a wall or allow our national guard to patrol it through military enforcement. Other nations take the enforcement of their borders more seriously than we do.

We are spending more money on enforcement of immigration laws than all other federal law enforcement combined and our deportation rate has risen 30,000/yr in 1990 to 188,000 in 2000 to 368,000 in 2013. Our boarders are far from being open. We are doing a better job of enforcement that we have ever done.

The solution to the problem is not going to be found in increasing boarder security and deportations but rather eliminating the primary reason people cross our boarders illegally, jobs. Currently an employer hiring illegal immigrants faces only a $250 fine for first offense and it's not levied on the first 10 offenses in a year. ICE raids have increased but they focus only the largest employers which is not where most illegal immigrants work.

The E-Verify system which every employer should be using is voluntary and less than 10% of employers use the system. Most employers either make no attempt to check the legality of the applicant or accept a green card or social security card which can bought for as little as $25.

Immigration law needs to be changed to require all employers to use the E- Verify system or equivalent system and to include the information needed to avoid the false rejections. The fines need to be increase and jail time should be added for habitually offenders.

If there are no jobs available, few will come and many will leave. We could also reduce wait time and cost of entering the country and increase enforcement of visa expirations but jobs are the key.

http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Image_Galleries/immigration_enforcement_in__us_MPI_report.pdf

You make some very good points, but the problem is many, if not most of the illegals work off the clock and are employed by small service companies. Lawn service and roofing are the two that come to mind. In my little town there are a number of companies that are minority owned and employ a dozen or more people who barely speak English. I doubt that they are even interested in using E-Verify.

As I said, using the system is voluntary. This needs to change. The E-Verify is very simple to use. The prospective Employee completes an I9 form which collects data such as name, address, birth date, S.S. Number, Citizenship, Alien Registration Number, etc. The employee presents the I9 and identification documents to the employer. The employer logs on to E-Verify and enters the information. The information matches against S.S, Immigration, Drivers License, and other Homeland Security Databases. Usually within seconds, the employer get's a verification message which often includes a photo. The employer then completes a document stating he has verified identification documents.

In order to fully implement the system, laws would have to change. Moreover, Congress will have to decide just how important the elimination of illegal immigrants really is, because the full implementation of the system would put an additional burden on every employer plus Homeland Security would be massing huge amounts of personal data on every employee in the country.

 

[TooTall]

funny, the Republicans passed the same immigration reform years past, and now they don't like it ?

Of course they don't like it. If they passed it Obama might sign it and that would be fraternizing with the enemy.

We made the mistake of allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens without putting a plan in place to enforce the problem that caused it in the first place. Now we have come full circle to where we were once before, and you expect for us to not learn from the mistakes of the past and simply allow the endless circle to continue? We have already seen the end result of legalization without enforcement, without sealing the border, and BILLIONS thrown away supporting illegals when it would have been cheaper to build a wall or allow our national guard to patrol it through military enforcement. Other nations take the enforcement of their borders more seriously than we do.

We are spending more money on enforcement of immigration laws than all other federal law enforcement combined and our deportation rate has risen 30,000/yr in 1990 to 188,000 in 2000 to 368,000 in 2013. Our boarders are far from being open. We are doing a better job of enforcement that we have ever done.

The solution to the problem is not going to be found in increasing boarder security and deportations but rather eliminating the primary reason people cross our boarders illegally, jobs. Currently an employer hiring illegal immigrants faces only a $250 fine for first offense and it's not levied on the first 10 offenses in a year. ICE raids have increased but they focus only the largest employers which is not where most illegal immigrants work.

The E-Verify system which every employer should be using is voluntary and less than 10% of employers use the system. Most employers either make no attempt to check the legality of the applicant or accept a green card or social security card which can bought for as little as $25.

Immigration law needs to be changed to require all employers to use the E- Verify system or equivalent system and to include the information needed to avoid the false rejections. The fines need to be increase and jail time should be added for habitually offenders.

If there are no jobs available, few will come and many will leave. We could also reduce wait time and cost of entering the country and increase enforcement of visa expirations but jobs are the key.

http://carnegie.org/fileadmin/Media/Image_Galleries/immigration_enforcement_in__us_MPI_report.pdf

You make some very good points, but the problem is many, if not most of the illegals work off the clock and are employed by small service companies. Lawn service and roofing are the two that come to mind. In my little town there are a number of companies that are minority owned and employ a dozen or more people who barely speak English. I doubt that they are even interested in using E-Verify.

As I said, using the system is voluntary. This needs to change. The E-Verify is very simple to use. The prospective Employee completes an I9 form which collects data such as name, address, birth date, S.S. Number, Citizenship, Alien Registration Number, etc. The employee presents the I9 and identification documents to the employer. The employer logs on to E-Verify and enters the information. The information matches against S.S, Immigration, Drivers License, and other Homeland Security Databases. Usually within seconds, the employer get's a verification message which often includes a photo. The employer then completes a document stating he has verified identification documents.

In order to fully implement the system, laws would have to change. Moreover, Congress will have to decide just how important the elimination of illegal immigrants really is, because the full implementation of the system would put an additional burden on every employer plus Homeland Security would be massing huge amounts of personal data on every employee in the country.

Mandatory E-Verify sounds good to me, but what is the cost? Not only to the federal government, but to the small business owner. You just knew there would be a yes but didn't you?
I am tempted to write to my Congressman and Senators and find out what their position is on E-Verify.