House Republicans Push to Involve Employers
WASHINGTON, DC – Last night, the House of Representatives completed the first day of consideration of the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005 (H.R. 4437), introduced by Rep. Sensenbrenner (R-WI). Proponents of strong enforcement won several great victories through the course of the day including forcing the removal of a provision by Rep. Flake (R-AZ) that would have put the House on record as supporting large flows of legal foreign workers. “Many have questioned the sincerity of Republican lawmakers who have campaigned against illegal immigration but have never made a major push to pass laws that target the law-breaking employers who provide the magnet of jobs for most illegal aliens,” said NumbersUSA Executive Director Roy Beck. “This week, House Republicans have largely ignored the affluent business lobby’s screams of protest and have done the right thing by fighting for an enforcement bill that requires every business in America to use an electronic verification system to ensure that every employee has the legal right to work in the United States.” Among the actions taken on the first round of amendments were approval of a critical amendment to shore up security by building border fences and other physical infrastructure to keep out illegal aliens and an important amendment that would provide an incentive for state and local government to drop their sanctuary policies and stop violating federal laws by harboring illegal aliens. The House also sent a strong message to the White House by passing on a voice vote a resolution calling on the Administration to “use every tool available” to enforce current immigration laws. “With the majority of Democrats indicating they will vote against the bill, they may be conceding to the Republicans the mantle of champions of the American worker against unfair foreign worker competition,” said Beck. “With an estimated six million U.S. jobs currently filled by illegal aliens and around 12 million Americans unable to find a full-time job, the enforcement action House Republicans are taking will give them significant bragging rights for next year’s election as the defenders of the most vulnerable of American workers.” Today, the House continues consideration of the bill and is expected to vote on 21 amendments, including one that would eliminate the visa lottery, a program that annually awards 50,000 green cards to randomly selected winners and that was found by the State Department’s Inspector General to be a major national security risk. Other important amendments expected to come up today would prevent criminals and terrorists from obtaining immigration status (Stearns Amendment), require all non-citizens to be processed through US VISIT, the existing automated entry-exit system (Sullivan Amendment), reinforce state and local law enforcement’s ability to enforce immigration law (Norwood Amendment), and ensure the investigation and prosecution of corrupt government employees (Royce Amendment). NumbersUSA is posting up-to-the-minute updates on the status of H.R. 4437 and amendments.
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