The LEAVE Act contains multiple provisions designed to help federal authorities enforce our immigration laws including mandatory employment verification, assistance by state and local law enforcement, additional ICE agents, and secure identification measures.

This paper proceeds under the assumption that immigration reform is needed but that the two sides currently being touted, both eager for attention are wrong. There are reforms that can be instituted now in an effort to ratchet up boarder protection and shrink the pool of undocumented aliens in order to allow better control of our immigrant population. This needs to be done without severely impacting the American economy.

A new Rasmussen poll shows that 66% of likely voters believe that the government should improve border enforcement and reduce illegal immigration.  However, only 32% of America's "Political Class" agree.

The poll also shows that 77% of likely voters believe that illegal aliens should not be able to receive driver's licenses and 73% of Americans believe that police officers should automatically check to see if someone is in this country legally when that person is pulled over for a traffic violation. 

In a Washington Post/ABC Poll released just before Barack Obama's inaguration, respondents ranked immigration No. 10 on a list of priorities for the administration. The economy, Iraq War, foreign policy and education were all ranked ahead of immigration. Twenty-one percent said that it was the highest priority, 48 percent said it was high priority, while 29 percent said it was low priority.

When asked about what governments should do to address illegal immigration, 83% of respondents supported stronger border controls, 74% supported cracking down on employers, and 68% supported deportation.

Only 32% of Obama voters considered his support for amnesty as a factor in their decisions to vote for him. 67% said it was either not a factor at all, or they voted for Obama in spite of his stance on amnesty.

60% of voters said reducing illegal immigration and cracking down on employers who hire them is important to them, while only 21% supported "legalizing or creating a pathway to citizenship" for illegal aliens.

57% of voters stated that amnesty would harm American workers and further strain public resources, while only 26% believe amnesty would aid economic recovery and ease public burdens.

Twenty-six of respondents are angry over immigration policy in the United States.

Sixty-two percent say gaining control of the borders is more important than legalizing the status of undocumented workers.

"Since the landmark raid, an economic squeeze has destroyed several businesses. Postville's population has shrunk by nearly half, to about 1,800 residents, and townsfolk say the resulting anxiety -- felt from the deli to the schoolyard -- has been relentless.

"It's like you're in an oven and there's no place to go and there's no timer to get you out," said former Mayor Robert Penrod, who, overwhelmed, resigned earlier this year....

Roy Beck, head of the Washington-based NumbersUSA group that advocates for reducing immigration, argued that Postville invited its problems by relying so heavily on a plant many suspected was violating labor and immigration laws.

"The situation should have never gotten to that point," he said. "If you don't enforce the laws steadily, then when you suddenly enforce them, there is more collateral damage....""

He's a major proponent of E-Verify, the voluntary government program that allows employers to certify whether prospective workers are legally authorized to work in the United States. During the debate over the federal stimulus bill in February, Sessions led a failed bid to add amendments that would have forced federal contractors receiving stimulus funds to use the E-Verify program.

"Now we have the No. 1 champion for the American workers on immigration issues being the ranking member," said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, an immigration-reduction advocacy group.

"Some Christian leaders and organizations voiced support for President Obama's indication that he plans to address immigration reform this year, a move that has riled opponents who argue that he should first focus on fixing the economy.

"Christians throughout the United States are energized and encouraged by the courageous steps taken by the Obama administration to prioritize reform of our broken immigration laws," praised Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CCIR) in a statement released on Thursday....

"It just doesn't seem rational that any political leader would say, let's give millions of foreign workers permanent access to U.S. jobs when we have millions of Americans looking for jobs," said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a group that supports reduced immigration, to the New York Times.

Opponents of legalization legislation were incredulous at the idea that Obama would take on immigration when economic pain for Americans is so widespread.

"It just doesn't seem rational that any political leader would say, let's give millions of foreign workers permanent access to U.S. jobs when we have millions of Americans looking for jobs," said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a group that favors reduced immigration. Beck predicted that Obama would face "an explosion" if he proceeded this year.

Unemployment is soaring. Yet advocates and Congressional leaders want a guest worker program that would legalize tens of thousands of undocumented agriculture workers.

Proponents say they want a legal work force to pick the nation's tomatoes, peppers and lettuce. Opponents call it amnesty for illegal workers at a time Americans are losing their jobs.

"If you can't use legal workers and pay American wages and provide American working conditions, then you shouldn't be in America," said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for reduced immigration. "America shouldn't have peasant jobs."

A group called NumbersUSA is pushing Obama to take what it calls a timeout not only on illegal immigration but also on the flow of people who come here legally.

“How can it make any sense for the American people’s own government to be approving more competitors for a dwindling number of jobs?” the group’s leader, Roy Beck, said in a letter to Obama.

Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, a policy group that seeks to reduce immigration, criticized Napolitano, saying she supports “amnesty” for illegal immigrants, though he still praised her efforts in taking steps to “secure the border.” In what may be a signal that Napolitano could face tough questioning from Republicans, many Numbers USA members harshly criticized Beck’s recent statement in his blog, that “Obama could do a lot worse” in picking Napolitano.

"Opponents claimed a populist victory over what Roy Beck of NumbersUSA called 'the cheap-labor lobby.' Beck said his organization, which focuses on immigration-related issues, generated more than two million faxes against the immigration bill since May. Hours before the Senate vote, the Capitol switchboard was swamped with phone calls."

Rosemary Jenks, director of governmental relations at NumbersUSA, a group that promotes reduced immigration, both legal and illegal, said the concept of a virtual fence isn’t necessarily bad, but it could work only in conjunction with other border security enforcement measures.

“Some folks in the administration see this as a panacea. It is not,” said Jenks

She also questioned whether a virtual fence makes fiscal sense.

“It’s hard to believe that the technology required would be less expensive” than a physical fence, Jenks said. “A virtual fence is going to require a constant infusion of funding and manpower. You can’t just set it up and leave it alone.”

NumbersUSA, which was instrumental in sinking the earlier Senate legislation, has alerted its 550,000-strong activist network to the prospect of a vote on the DREAM Act and on Thursday it flooded lawmakers with more than 260,000 faxes opposing the legislation, according to a spokeswoman for the group, Caroline Espinosa...
...“It’s narrower, yes, but it’s still an amnesty,” Espinosa said. “If you seek to reward illegal immigration, you’ll only encourage more of it.”

"Italy's conservative prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has sought to deflect criticism of Italy's harsh immigration policies by stressing potential migrants are welcome in his country. In an interview posted to the US television network CNN's website on Monday, he said immigrants who qualified to come to Italy should be allowed to work and create a better life for themselves and their families.

"We welcome those (immigrants) who have the right to come here. This is what the United States and all normal countries do," Berlusconi told CNN.

"We are absolutely open to those who come to our country with the wish to integrate and to work... we keep an open door to all who are eligible to come to work in Italy or request asylum," Berlusconi said."

"Despite the high unemployment rate, our industry still does not have a reliable workforce and will not until the AgJOBS bill is passed," said Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association.

Health care reforms that aim to insure every American won’t provide insurance for illegal immigrants and may not address the cost to state and local governments for providing medical care to this large group of the uninsured, Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus, D-Mt., said Thursday.

“We’re not going to cover undocumented aliens, undocumented workers,” Baucus said. “That’s too politically explosive.”

The May 8 Style article "No Turning Back," on the efforts of Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) to change immigration laws, outlined his strategy, which was "designed to project the most sympathetic image possible" of illegal immigrants by arguing that immigration enforcement separates families.

That strategy ignores the impact on families of failing to enforce our immigration laws. Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who have committed crimes are in state jails for murder, assault, gang activity and drug charges; more than 15 percent of federal inmates are illegal immigrants. Many of these crimes could have been prevented if our immigration laws had been enforced before the crimes occurred.

"Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego will become the first counties in California to begin checking the immigration status of all inmates booked into jail as part of a national effort to identify and deport more illegal immigrants with criminal records.

Law enforcement officials in the three counties will begin running inmates' fingerprints through federal databases this month to see if they have had any contact with the immigration system. Immigration officials will place holds on those believed to be in the country illegally. Once the inmates have finished serving their sentences, they will be transferred to immigration custody for possible deportation...."

"Margaret Heintz sputtered in frustration.

"There's nothing we can do," the Marshalltown, Iowa, woman said to her daughter, Mona Kilborn, when they talked about their shared point of aggravation -- illegal immigrants.

"Mom, you can do something," Kilborn said. "You can write your congressman. I'll even get you the address."

So in September 2007, the 90-year-old Heintz put pen to paper for her first letter to a politician. Two weeks later, she died at the hands of an illegal immigrant.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Kilborn said. "This one issue, it's changed our lives forever....""

"Since the landmark raid, an economic squeeze has destroyed several businesses. Postville's population has shrunk by nearly half, to about 1,800 residents, and townsfolk say the resulting anxiety -- felt from the deli to the schoolyard -- has been relentless.

"It's like you're in an oven and there's no place to go and there's no timer to get you out," said former Mayor Robert Penrod, who, overwhelmed, resigned earlier this year....

Roy Beck, head of the Washington-based NumbersUSA group that advocates for reducing immigration, argued that Postville invited its problems by relying so heavily on a plant many suspected was violating labor and immigration laws.

"The situation should have never gotten to that point," he said. "If you don't enforce the laws steadily, then when you suddenly enforce them, there is more collateral damage....""

"Calls for U.S. immigration officials to concentrate on deporting more illegal aliens who have serious criminal records are showing results, police say.

A new program at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency -- called Secure Communities -- is netting aliens for deportation when they are arrested for crimes by police in 48 communities, USA Today reported Tuesday.

The program was established in response to criticism of ICE during the Bush administration. Observers said the agency concentrated too much on mass deportations of immigrant workers picked up during raids on work places instead of targeting violent illegal aliens who commit crimes, the newspaper said...."

"One of President Obama's highest policy priorities is making America energy independent. The president has correctly observed that our reliance on others for essential energy needs is both a source of weakness and an impediment to the development of new technologies that would also strengthen our economy and help the environment.

In much the same way that we have avoided investing in domestic energy sources and new technologies, we have developed an unhealthy reliance on foreign workers to fill our science and technology needs. As technology has become increasingly important to our economy, U.S. companies have spent millions of dollars lobbying for increased access to foreign workers, rather than investing in American workers to fill jobs...."

President Obama voted in the Senate to provide additional funding for a program targeted for elimination by his budget that provides states a federal subsidy to offset the costs of jailing illegal immigrants.

Killing the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAPP) would save $400 million, according to Obama's budget for fiscal 2010 released Thursday. It's one of the largest non-defense discretionary cuts proposed in the president's budget.

Roy Beck testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 3, 2009 regarding S.424, which would provide green cards to domestic partners.