51 Members of Congress join Rep. Brian Bilbray in Opposing Obama's E-Verify Postponement

Updated Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 2:11 PM EST - posted on NumbersUSA

Rep. Brian Bilbray

Representative Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) has sent a letter, along with 51 other Members of the House, criticizing Pres. Barack Obama and his Administration's decision to postpone a 2008 executive order requiring the mandatory use of E-Verify for government contractors. It was the fourth time the order was delayed - the third by the Obama Administration.

Here is a copy of the letter with a list of its cosigners...

Dear President Obama and Secretary Napolitano:

As Members of the
House of Representatives, we appeal to you on behalf of American
taxpayers. We oppose the Administration's decision to delay, for a
third time, the requirement that federal contractors use E-Verify to
confirm that new hires are eligible to work in the United States
legally.

On June 6, 2008, former President George Bush amended Executive
Order 12989 and directed all federal departments and agencies to
require certain contractors use E-Verify, a free Internet-based system
that allows enrolled employers to confirm the legal status of new hires
within seconds. Operated jointly by the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) and Social Security Administration (SSA),
E-Verify electronically matches information found on the Employment
Eligibility Verification Form (Form I-9) against government databases.
Over 122,000 U.S. employers currently use the E-Verify system, many
voluntarily, with approximately 1,000 new employers signing up each
week. 

The E-Verify program enjoys a success rate of 99.6%, meaning that
99.6% of those legal workers checked by the program are verified
without receiving a tentative non-confirmation (TNC) or having to take
any type of corrective action. Testifying last June, Rep. Heath Shuler
said, "E-Verify is handling at least one in eight new hires already.
Based on recent load testing, the system has the capacity to handle 240
million queries a year -that's four times the number of people in the
United States who are usually hired in a given year." The E-Verify
program is reliable, easy to use and, most importantly, expedient. 

For a fourth time this year, the effective date of the E-Verify
requirement for federal government contractors has been delayed. The
reported reason for the delay is in order to give the Administration
additional time to review the regulation, which was originally
scheduled to be implemented on January 15, 2009 after the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) designated E-Verify as the employment
eligibility verification system for federal contractors. E-Verify was
originally established under the Illegal Immigration Reform and
Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-208). The Administration
has had plenty of time to review this rule. We find it unacceptable
that the rule has been put on hold since Homeland Security Secretary
Janet Napolitano has stated publically that she supports E-Verify and
wants to see it extended beyond the Sept. 30 expiration date.

Employers who break the law by hiring illegal immigrants create
unfair competition in the labor market and depress wages for all
workers. According to estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center, roughly
7.7 million illegal immigrants were employed in the United States in
2008. These are all jobs that currently unemployed United States
workers-both citizens and legal immigrants-could and should have a
chance to fill, especially if U.S. taxpayers are paying the bill for
federal government contracts. Requiring federal contractors to use
E-Verify is a good government practice that should not be delayed.
Taxpayer dollars should not be used to employ illegal immigrants and
E-Verify is the only way we can make sure we are protecting taxpayer
dollars.

Sincerely,

Brian Bilbray
Member of Congress

Marsha Blackburn
Member of Congress

John Duncan
Member of Congress

Jack Kingston
Member of Congress

Sam Graves
Member of Congress

Heath Shuler
Member of Congress

Kenny Marchant
Member of Congress

Dean Heller
Member of Congress

Rodney Alexander
Member of Congress

John Boozeman
Member of Congress

Lamar Smith
Member of Congress

Pete Hoekstra
Member of Congress

Ed Royce
Member of Congress

Michael McCaul
Member of Congress

Dana Rohrbacher
Member of Congress

Trent Franks
Member of Congress

Walter B. Jones
Member of Congress

Louie Gohmert
Member of Congress

Ed Whitfield
Member of Congress

Roscoe Bartlett
Member of Congress

Howard Coble
Member of Congress

Elton Gallegly
Member of Congress

Pete Olson
Member of Congress

Todd Akin
Member of Congress

Jeff Miller
Member of Congress

Doug Lamborn
Member of Congress

Dan Burton
Member of Congress

John Campbell
Member of Congress

Virginia Foxx
Member of Congress

Phil Gingrey
Member of Congress

Steve King
Member of Congress

Peter Roskam
Member of Congress

Shelley Moore Capito
Member of Congress

John Culberson
Member of Congress

Ted Poe
Member of Congress

Patrick McHenry
Member of Congress

John Fleming
Member of Congress

Roy Blunt
Member of Congress

Ginny Brown-Waite
Member of Congress

Jason Chaffetz
Member of Congress

Paul Broun
Member of Congress

Adrian Smith
Member of Congress

Peter King
Member of Congress

Sue Myrick
Member of Congress

Ken Calvert
Member of Congress

Gary Miller
Member of Congress

J. Gresham Barrett
Member of Congress

Duncan Hunter
Member of Congress

Gene Taylor
Member of Congress

Mike Coffman
Member of Congress

Mike Simpson
Member of Congress

There are faxes on your Action Buffet for both Pres. Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, blasting them for their decision to further delay the executive order and replace it with a new, leaner version.