Some Hope Left for E-Verify
Posted March 11th, 2009 at 3:05pm in Protect America 
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The authorization for E-Verify ends today but the future of the program is still up in the air. E-Verify is an online system that allows employers to check whether or not there new employees are eligible to work in the United States. There are 80,000 employers currently participating in this voluntary program, with the exception of employers in Arizona and the U.S. government.
Though Congress failed to re-authorize E-Verify in time, the FY 2009 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security had conflicting language about the true end date of E-Verify. A Department of Homeland Security memo speculates that the program can still continue to operate until September 30, 2009. The memo makes two main arguments: (1) the Comptroller General routinely holds that if money is appropriated for a program it can legally continue for the remaining time of the fiscal year, (2) ending E-Verify would also go against the mandate that DHS must “assist United States employers with maintaining a legal workforce” through the use of E-Verify.
DHS should keep E-Verify operating according to this interpretation to avoid major disruption in the employers participating in the program, as well as the ability of the U.S. government to hire necessary employees. However, regardless of this legal interpretation, E-Verify must be re-authorized. Congress should not stall, but re-authorize E-Verify as quickly as possible to avoid major setbacks is this necessary program.
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2 Responses to “Some Hope Left for E-Verify”
Carlos Castro New York on March 11th, 2009 at 3:05pm said:
At a time when Americans are losing jobs in in large numbers. We need E-Verify more than ever. When will Washington look out for Americans.
They forgot who they are suppose to serve.
WE THE PEOPLE
Jo, Houston on March 11th, 2009 at 3:05pm said:
I don’t understand why verification is a problem. I don’t understand why business owners or others who knowingly employ illegal immigrants are not prosecuted. Prosecution should have a mandatory prison/jail sentence and very stiff fines. Why go to a country and break the laws? Why does the United States make illegal immigration so damned easy and lucrative? In many countries, as an illegal or legal immigrant, you cannot own land, become a member of clergy and no monetary aid is made available to you. Why is it that in America we reward people who break our laws? We change languages and stores.I don’t understand this. I feel as though my country only reward those that break the law- not just illegal immigrants. Corrupt businessman and women, for example, Martha Stewart, are sent to comfortable and safe prisons. The rest of us must endure humiliations and rapes that are ‘understood’ parts of our sentences. Anyhow, that is a tangent. Why do we change to fit the needs of law-breakers? However, for those that enter the country legally and struggle to become citizens are denied benefits. Those that do not are rewarded with free schooling, health care, and other monetary gains. But the worst thing is this: the middle-class are too afraid to speak out, to fall out political correctness and stand against an obviously broken system. All of this because of fear of being deemed racist, hard-hearted, etc… For what it is worth, that is how I see it.