The Gang of Eight filed an amended version of its "comprehensive immigration reform" amnesty bill on Tuesday that, most notably, continues the current E-Verify program. There was some debate over whether the original bill scrapped the existing E-Verify program to create a brand new system, but the updated bill adds some clarity to the contested point.
Whether or not you admire the bold individualistic leadership of Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on other issues, I know you will be disappointed and maybe even shocked by the immigration platform he outlined this morning before the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
While Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the White House's leaked immigration plan was an attempt to politicize the immigration debate and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said it would be "dead on arrival", the actual details of the two plans are essentially the same - they both grant instant amnesty to the nation's 11 million illegal aliens and neither bill does anything to stop future illegal immigration or protect America's unemployed.
While the current proposal is short on details, Rosemary Jenks has reviewed it and tells me it is basically the same sweeping amnesty we defeated in 2007 with "updated" language to re-brand the amnesty. We had hoped that the new voices of Senators Rubio (R-FL) and Lee (R-UT)[both members of the so-called Senate "Gang of Eight"] would bring some new perspective to an immigration proposal so we were especially disappointed to see their Amnesty 2.0 proposal be nothing more than a rehash of the failed 2007 amnesty.
A four-year court battle between the State of Oklahoma and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ended this week when a federal judge approved an agreement between the parties that allows the state to implement certain provisions of its immigration-enforcement law but blocks implementation of other provisions.
Readers may draw one significant conclusion from the powerful print and video report, "Deadly crossing: Death toll rises among those desperate for the American Dream," (NBC, October 9, 2012): People will continue to die crossing the southern border as long as they believe a U.S. job awaits.
(Editor's Note: USA Today's main editorial this morning castigates the Republican platform for its support for various immigration enforcement, saying it is anti-Hispanic and drives Hispanic voters away from Republican candidates. USA Today generously asked NumbersUSA President Roy Beck to write an op-ed giving a very different point of view. Check out the debate.)
The good news about Mitt Romney's pick to be his vice presidential running mate is that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) doesn't seem to have put a lot of thought into immigration policy and doesn't seem to have deep ideological reasons for his poor immigration record during his 14 years in Congress. Our Grade Card on him finds him throwing about half his weight toward protecting American workers and taxpayers from bad immigation policy -- and throwing the other half of his weight behind immigration policies that hurt American workers and taxpayers.
The Kansas House of Representatives sent a bill back to committee after it was amended to require state agencies and most employers that do business with the state to use E-Verify. The amendment would have required any business with a state contract worth more than $50,000 to use the workplace verification system.
The Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Alejandro Mayorkas told the Washington Times that the E-Verify workplace verification system can handle many more requests than it currently does. The agency, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, oversees the E-Verify system. Currently, only companies that contract with the federal government and a employers in a handful of states are mandated to use E-Verify.