Proposed DHS Rule Will Help Prevent Illegal Employment
Proposed DHS Rule Will Help Prevent Illegal Employment
Cornyn to chair hearing on worksite enforcement, ways to prevent the failures of the 1986 amnesty later this month
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, discussed a proposed DHS rule Friday that will help responsible employers ensure that they are not employing illegal immigrants. Cornyn announced that he will hold a hearing later this month on worksite enforcement and the need to prevent the failures and mistakes of the 1986 amnesty (floor speech follows):
"The Department of Homeland Security is proposing a rule that will help responsible employers ensure that they are not employing illegal aliens unauthorized to work in the United States. It outlines clear steps that employers can take when they learn from the Social Security Administration that the social security number filed on behalf of an illegal alien does not match. If businesses follow these procedures in good faith, they won't be subject to sanctions. And it will provide guidance to employers who seek to comply with the law, while allowing government to prosecute those who turn a blind eye.
"But while I applaud this action by DHS, we must do more to solve the underlying problem: employers do not have a reliable method to ascertain whether employees are eligible to work in the United States. So I also encourage the administration to issue a related regulation that would allow employers to move away from a paper-based Form I-9' system.
"Electronic verification has been tested for over 10 years, and an independent review of the program found that 96 percent of participating employers believed that the electronic verification system is an effective tool for employment verification. And in my capacity as Chair of the Immigration Subcommittee, I intend to hold a hearing in the coming weeks to further explore employment verification.
"Twenty years ago, Congress sold Americans on an amnesty on the basis that an employment verification system would reduce future illegal immigration. Yet here we are today wrestling with the problem of 12 million illegal aliens. Americans will not forgive us if we repeat the same mistake. The consequences, for our society, for our national security, and for our economy, are just too great.
"I will therefore work diligently during the conference with the House to develop an employment verification system that reduces employer burdens and protects worker's rights - but which will shut out any illegal alien from obtaining work in the United States."
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http://cornyn.senate.gov/index.asp?f=record&lid=1&yid=1&rid=237203&pg=1