Plan Devised for Illegal Immigrant Hiring

[Eugene]

Plan Devised for Illegal Immigrant Hiring

By SUZANNE GAMBOA
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; 3:53 AM

WASHINGTON -- Employers would have to check Social Security numbers and the immigration
status of all new hires under a tentative Senate agreement on toughening sanctions against
people who provide jobs to illegal immigrants.

Those who don't and who hire an illegal immigrant would be subject to fines of $200 to
$6,000 per violation.

Employers found to have actually hired illegal immigrants once an electronic system for the
checks is in place could be fined up to $20,000 per unauthorized worker and even sentenced
to jail for repeat offenses.

<snip>

Senate Republicans and Democrats are hoping this week to reach a compromise on more
contentious parts of the immigration bill so they can vote on it before Memorial Day.

<snip>

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/10/AR2006051000245.html

The devil is in the details on this proposal, which includes an online "no work" list
and expanded DHS access to tax records.

[fasttense]

1. Bush* just ignores laws he doesn't like.

Does anyone expect the federal govt to actually follow through with this law? They don't follow the laws on immigration now. What makes anyone believe the administration will follow the new laws anymore than they followed the old laws?

Everything the federal govt does they do incompetently and in favor of big corporations. This is just another pretend to do something law.

[Igel]

2. Same old, same old.

Some people want hefty fines for employers who hire illegal immigrants. After all, being here illegally may be a crime, but it's only because they fell for the irresistible temptation of scut labor at slightly higher wages.

Others point out that currently hiring an illegal immigrant is itself illegal, and call for enforcement of the laws. And rightly so.

But the current system is unenforceable, wittingly so, arguably by design. There's no way of verifying that documentation provided--documentation easily forged and fairly cheaply available in many places--is valid.

And every time it's suggested that some method be instituted for allowing the documentation to be verified or for making it easy to spot fake IDs, another segment of the rights community gets up in arms. Again, seemingly by design, making the law unenforceable. States' rights suddenly loom large; privacy becomes paramount; the system could be hacked; the system could be flawed or develop flaws; somebody could make a mistake at some point. It's the usual ploy: if you like something, the important point is that something needs to be done, something is better than nothing, we'll work out the bugs later; if you don't like the proposal, the minimum standard is perfection.