Under legislation introduced by Eighth District Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson, employers would have to vouch that their workers are legal. She explained the bill in her latest newsletter:
On May 13, I introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would that would require employers to check off on the legal status of the workers they employ. Falsifying a tax record is a serious crime, punishable as a felony, substantially increasing the opportunity to prosecute employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.
We have to remove the biggest incentive to illegal immigration – a paying job. Not only do illegal workers displace Americans who really want to do these construction and service jobs, but they are ignoring federal immigration laws. In order to get serious about the illegal immigration problem, we have to start enforcing laws that deter the hiring of undocumented workers.
This legislation is designed to enable prosecutors to go after companies with felony charges for perjury on tax forms rather than depending on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
This is a bigger problem in many ways than securing the border. We have communities in Southern Missouri where illegal workforces are a problem. When they get picked up or get into trouble, they simply move on to another community in another county or another state. We have to dry up the jobs, dry up the money, and partner that effort with stricter enforcement of the immigration laws already on our books.
American businesses have an obligation every time they hire someone to check identification, Social Security numbers or work visas. Ignoring that responsibility hurts our communities and it hurts our economy. Ultimately it hurts our country. Under my bill, prosecutors can pursue felony charges in these cases. We have to break the impasse between an illegal workforce of millions in the U.S. and lightly-enforced federal laws against hiring undocumented workers.
2 comments:
Verifying legal work status has been the law for years, people just ignore it like any other immigration law. This is nothing more that Emerson's attempt to look like she's doing something possitive during an election year and hoping that people will forget her votes for wall street bailouts, cash-for-clunkers, stem cell research, CAFTA, trade relations with China, and every other socialist bill to come along.
You want to stem illegal immigration? Ratchet up the penalties to companies that hire them, and increase funding to the agencies that police the companies.
POOF. No more illegal immigrants.
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