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Friday, November 14, 2008
Feds issue final E-Verify rule
Starting next year, most federal contractors must prove that their employees are in the United States legally.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a final rule on the requirement Friday. It mandates companies to use a federal system — known as E-Verify — that compares employee information to electronic government records.
If the information doesn’t match, the employee has an opportunity to correct the paperwork, often through a trip to a Social Security office.
Federal contracts of more than $100,000 and subcontracts of more than $3,000 issued after Jan. 15, 2009 will be subject to the new rule.
Critics of E-Verify — including civil rights organizations and Hispanic groups — denounced the rule. They say that E-Verify relies on faulty government databases and would cause thousands of citizens and legal residents to be mistakenly rejected for work. They also say it would cripple the Social Security Administration (SSA).
“At a time when our economy is under duress, people are without work and struggling to stay in their homes, why would the federal government expand a policy known to prevent innocent Americans from earning a living,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU’s Washington legislative office.
USCIS says that 96 percent of all queries to E-Verify are authorized instantly and that those who are not approved have the opportunity to fix the problem by correcting their government records.
Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen, acting director of USCIS, recently touted the E-Verify program with reporters, saying that it is the best means available for determining job eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security numbers.
Federal officials also said that criminals with outstanding warrants have been caught through the E-Verify program, which is currently voluntary in most states.
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Feds issue final E-Verify rule
Starting next year, most federal contractors must prove that their employees are in the United States legally.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a final rule on the requirement Friday. It mandates companies to use a federal system — known as E-Verify — that compares employee information to electronic government records.
If the information doesn’t match, the employee has an opportunity to correct the paperwork, often through a trip to a Social Security office.
Federal contracts of more than $100,000 and subcontracts of more than $3,000 issued after Jan. 15, 2009 will be subject to the new rule.
Critics of E-Verify — including civil rights organizations and Hispanic groups — denounced the rule. They say that E-Verify relies on faulty government databases and would cause thousands of citizens and legal residents to be mistakenly rejected for work. They also say it would cripple the Social Security Administration (SSA).
“At a time when our economy is under duress, people are without work and struggling to stay in their homes, why would the federal government expand a policy known to prevent innocent Americans from earning a living,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU’s Washington legislative office.
USCIS says that 96 percent of all queries to E-Verify are authorized instantly and that those who are not approved have the opportunity to fix the problem by correcting their government records.
Jonathan “Jock” Scharfen, acting director of USCIS, recently touted the E-Verify program with reporters, saying that it is the best means available for determining job eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security numbers.
Federal officials also said that criminals with outstanding warrants have been caught through the E-Verify program, which is currently voluntary in most states.
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Tancredo asks Obama to pardon border agents
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., sent a letter to president-elect Barack Obama this week, asking him to pardon two former Border Patrol agents within the first two weeks of his administration.
The agents — Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos — are serving 12 and 11 years in prison, respectively for shooting a Mexican drug dealer and trying to cover it up.
Supporters say that the agents were wrongly convicted for protecting the United States against a criminal illegal immigrant.
Tancredo said the agents were “wrongly imprisoned” and that an Obama pardon would “bring some needed changes” to Washington.
“These are the kind of men whose government failed and destroyed them - all while they were serving a cause greater than themselves. These men deserve justice,” he said, in the letter.
Tancredo urged Obama to pardon the agents during his first two weeks in office so they could spend President’s Day at home.
Tancredo and other lawmakers — including Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Dianne Feinstein of California — have urged President Bush to pardon Ramos and Compean.
The White House has given no indication that Bush intends to pardon the agents before he leaves office.
This week, the sentences of Compean and Ramos were re-instated after an appeals court dropped some of the minor charges against them, but upheld the bulk of the convictions.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican who has taken up the cause of Ramos and Compean, once again asked the current president to act.
“All decent Americans are now calling on President Bush to show some mercy towards these unjustly convicted men who never should have been prosecuted in the first place…This case is an ongoing travesty of justice that needs to be set right and I call on President Bush to do the right thing and commute their sentences,” he said.
