Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) sent a letter today to the House and Senate conferees on the stimulus bill urging them to protect jobs for U.S. citizens and legal immigrant workers by ensuring that E-Verify provisions remain in the final conference report on H.R. 1. Without these provisions, E-Verify is set to expire on March 6.
The letter was sent to Representatives Obey, Lewis, Rangel, Camp, and Waxman; and Senators Baucus, Grassley, Inouye, Cochran, and Reid. Full text of the letter follows:
“Dear Conferees,
“I write to urge that language ensuring the long-term extension of the E-Verify program remain in the final conference report on H.R. 1, the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.” Such language was included, by voice vote, in the House version of H.R. 1. In addition, there is broad bipartisan support for an extension of the E-Verify program as evidenced by last July’s House passage of H.R. 6633, the “Employee Verification Amendment Act of 2008,” by a vote of 407 – 2.
“President Obama stated that, “the single most important part” of a stimulus bill is to “save or create. . . jobs.” One proven way to do so is to ensure that the E-Verify system remains available to employers who want to comply with federal law -- which requires employers to hire a legal workforce.
“E-Verify is a simple, cost-effective, and dependable process currently used by over 100,000 companies. It gives employers the ability to verify the Social Security numbers provided by newly hired employees. With American jobs disappearing at a staggering rate and 11.6 million Americans now out of work, we cannot waste an opportunity to help make sure that any available jobs are reserved for legal workers.
“E-Verify is effective. In fact, persons eligible to work receive immediate confirmation 99.4% of the time. Allegations that the Social Security Administration’s Inspector General has found the agency’s database to be inaccurate, are themselves inaccurate. The Inspector General actually stated that “we applaud the Agency on the accuracy of the data we tested.”
“Immigration by illegal immigrants and other poorly educated aliens has had a serious, depressing effect on the standard of living of low-skilled American workers. The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, chaired by the late civil rights pioneer Barbara Jordan, found that “immigration of unskilled immigrants comes at a cost to unskilled U.S. workers.” The Center for Immigration Studies has estimated that such immigration has reduced the wage of the average native-born worker in a low-skilled occupation by 12 percent, or almost $2,000, annually.
“In addition, Harvard economist George Borjas has estimated that immigration in recent decades has reduced the wages of native-born workers without a high school degree by 8.2%. Even Alexander Aleinkoff – Clinton Administration INS official and Obama Administration DHS transition official – calls it a “myth” that “there is little or no competition between undocumented workers and American workers.”
“Any bill whose supporters claim is enacted to support American workers, must do so by preserving jobs for a legal workforce and must contain a long-term extension of the E-Verify program and related protections for Americans and legal immigrants. I strongly urge you to support the retention of the House-passed E-Verify provisions of H.R. 1.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
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