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DEL.ICIO.USA solution to illegal immigration?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
D.A. King writes that the U.S. has a simple, effective solution to illegal immigration at its fingertips, if only employers would use it. It is called e-verify and it allows employers to run electronic checks on employees to find illegals.
Writes King, “E-Verify is presently a voluntary system that should be expanded, better funded and mandatory, with the goal of eliminating the magnet that draws illegals to our nation. Few will be surprised to learn that it was a coalition of the business community and the far-left ethnic lobby that was successful in making use of the system voluntary.
“That relatively few employers have chosen to use the no-cost tool provides alarming, but unsurprising, insight into the intent of those who have not enrolled in the program.
“When used to verify work eligibility of newly hired employees, a false negative response does not result in termination of the employee until completion of a lengthy and thorough appeal process. Using scare tactics about Americans losing jobs because of E-Verify is, at best, unproductive.” Read full column here.
An AJC editorial, however, recently pointed out reliability problems with E-verify and urged caution in using it.
“There’s nothing wrong with requiring employers to use a government database to verify job applicants’ legal status. But E-Verify just isn’t reliable enough to perform that task, and the Social Security Administration isn’t the agency to handle it,” the editorial said. Read full editorial here.
Is E-verify the solution, and if so, why aren’t we mandating it?
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By American worker
May 19, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this
Having read D.A. King’s column this morning, I cannot imagine why we wouldn’t want to make E-Verify mandatory.
Having read Mike King’s account of E-Verify last week, I think I understand that the left has its own reasons for not wanting to use it - or even fully expalin it. The same people who don’t want to build a fence are reluctant to tell the truth on E-Verify or use it to stop illegal employment.
I am checking with my county and city government today to see if they are using it as is required by Georgia law.
MAKE IT MANDATORY!
By Dorothy in Kansas
May 19, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this
It is clearly racist to even mention stopping illegal immigration!
By swgal
May 19, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this
D.A. gives us all a good reminder of the fact that some businesses are selfish and short-sighted in using seemingly cheap illegal labor instead of paying a living wage to hard-working Americans who need the jobs. These businesses don’t want to do the right thing for America by using “E-verify.” It is costing the rest of us in too many ways to list here. Does anyone remember the gas shortage of the 80’s? We have a national and world crises on our hands in terms of fuel shortages alone. Does America want millions more (here illegally) using limited fuel meant for Americans? Grab your wallets! There will be less fuel at even higher prices. Businesses who are not verifying their employees will wish they had done so!
By swgal
May 19, 2008 11:24 AM | Link to this
D.A. gives us all a good reminder of the fact that some businesses are selfish and short-sighted in using seemingly cheap illegal labor instead of paying a living wage to hard-working Americans who need the jobs. These businesses don’t want to do the right thing for America by using “E-verify.” It is costing the rest of us in too many ways to list here. Does anyone remember the gas shortage of the 80’s? We have a national and world crises on our hands in terms of fuel shortages alone. Does America want millions more (here illegally) using limited fuel meant for Americans? Grab your wallets! There will be less fuel at even higher prices. Businesses who are not verifying their employees will wish they had done so!
By My name here
May 19, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this
E-Verify is mandatory in Az and in Oklahoma. Illegals are pouring out of those states and the Mexican officials in Sonora are screaming bloddy murder about the problems involved in providing for the returning Mexicans who are leaving.
Congress lacks the will to do thew same because of the campaign donations rom their real bosses.
By Ken
May 19, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this
E-verify, and every other tool that prevents violation of our laws, should be used and enforced. We’re fed up with our own representatives betraying those of us that they’re supposed to represent and lawmakers pandering to alien lawbreakers!
It’s time to throw out all of the national representatives, including our own, as the whole institution and almost every member is so corrupted as to be counterproductive and a danger to the welfare of our citizens.
It SHOULD be a no-brainer that we have to enforce our laws in order to protect our citizens, our economy, our healthcare, our culture, and our very sovereignty! If our own lawmakers won’t do it, they should be impeached and/or tried for treason.
By Yeh Ling-Ling
May 19, 2008 12:19 PM | Link to this
E-verify should be implemented although it may not be perfect — no system is. The costs of illegal immigration are simply too high:
The following is an excerpt of Barron’s article, “Going Underground”, published 1/3/05:
AMERICA HAS TWO ECONOMIES, and one is flourishing at the expense of the other. First, there’s the legitimate economy, in which craftsmen are licensed and employers and employees pay taxes. Then there’s the fast-growing underground economy, where millions of nannies, construction workers and others are paid off-the-books, their incomes largely untaxed. The best guess as to the size of the output of this shadow economy is about $970 billion, or nearly 9% that of the real economy. It should soon pass $1 trillion. What is largely fueling the underground economy, experts say, is the nation’s swelling ranks of low-wage illegal immigrants…
The above Barron’s article, alarming enough, did not mention the following: A study released by Rand Corp. in November, 2006, estimates that health care provided to illegal adult immigrants costs about $6.4 billion a year nationally and that 68 percent of illegal immigrants are uninsured. This figure of $6.4 billion does not include health care provided to illegal kids or kids born here of illegal immigrants! This Rand Corp. study did not include the cost of educating illegal children which averages over $8000 per child per year, and the cost can exceed $10,000 if the child received “bilingual” education!
According to today’s news reports, some gas stations charge over $4 per gallon. If we keep adding over 3 million people — all energy consumers — to the U.S. every year, how can we reduce the energy costs? Certainly, consumption needs to be cut. But little progress can be achieved if we allow our population to double! In the last 15 years alone, over 50 million people have been added to the U.S. population. Try to imagine 50 million people lining up at the gas pumps! Yet Senators Obama, Clinto and McCain favor giving a “path to citizenship” to at least 12 million illegal immigrants. They should be told that if we amnesty 12 million people, they could add 120 millioin U.S. and foreign-born relatives to the U.S. within the next 20 years, who will consume energy, need jobs, health care, education and many very costly social services that any taxes they will pay will not cover due to their low incomes.
Yeh Ling-Ling Oakland, CA
By Jim Bob
May 19, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this
IF it is racist to try to stop illegal immigration (which I think is STUPID of you to think anyway) then call me a RACIST. I really don ‘t care what you call me, I just want the illegals gone!!! go home!! until such time you can take the legal route to immigration, stay there. stay there with all your kids and family and we will stay here and pay taxes to be used for a good purpose, not to provide for those of you who choose not to pay taxes and send your money home…I AM A RACIST then, so be it……you people with that sort of thinking make me SICK….before you know it the rapists and murderers and bank robbers will be expecting amnesty for the laws they break just as the illgals do today. WHO DO THEY THINK THEY ARE??? I do not owe them a damn thing.
By Watching from Gwinnett
May 19, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this
Workplace verification can be as easy as credit card verification…the business community ( that runs the government) wants and uses the latter - but not the former.
Follow the money.
I agree. This is a no brainer.
By Ernest Housner
May 19, 2008 12:43 PM | Link to this
If E verification would have been made mandatory law as soon as it became available, I doubt that we would have ENORMOUS PROBLEM that exists in America today.
This would save us significant dollars and help us to send illegal’s packing back to their homelands. Having them fill out and summit the proper documents would help us to control wanted quantities of who gets into our country LEGALLY.
This would make for a better quality of life for all of us who call America their home and are actually LEGAL CITIZENS.
Please check and demand that your local government use this invaluable free service. If they refuse to use it, use your POWER TO VOTE, and vote them out of office.
Thank you Mr. D.A. King
By Chris Salzmann
May 19, 2008 12:48 PM | Link to this
I’m a legal immigrant and jumped through all the hoops to get to where I am today. All private and public employers should be required, by law, to verify the status of ALL employees. White, Black, Hispanic, etc. Failure to do so should result in a HEAVY fine for each illegal immigrant found working for any employer. The only way you can stop illegal immigrants from coming here is taking away the reason they come here. Restrictive laws concerning housing, healthcare, education, etc for illegal immigrants will not stop the flow. Stop them from getting jobs and the vast majority will go home on their own. There’s nothing racist about it. It’s the LAW.
By TheQueen
May 19, 2008 12:51 PM | Link to this
Anyone who finds a problem with verifying that a person is here legally before hiring them clearly doesn’t care about our laws. Laws have a purpose. Americans are sick and tired of having our country invaded and then paying for social services for the invaders. If they’re not here legally, they need to LEAVE and whatever we can do to make them leave is fine with me.
By Jean
May 19, 2008 12:57 PM | Link to this
Unfortunately, illegal employers have the money to hire lobbyists to pay the politicians to do nothing about stopping illegal immigration. That’s the food chain for supporting cheap labor.
By Sherri Reese
May 19, 2008 12:57 PM | Link to this
We are SICK and TIRED of babysitting.
Last year- Americans made it clear that we wanted the borders under control and employers held accountable. We should not have to be organizing every week against another bill sneaking pieces of the Amnesty Bill into other bills. It is like dealing with a 2 yr old. We should not have to tell our Representatives every single week that we don’t want protection for lawbreakers (illegal aliens or employers). We want the laws enforced. HR5515 is not just a slap in the face— it is trying to usurp the rights of States and local gov’t trying to protect their communities from the ourtight refusal of Federal Gov’t from doing their jobs.
My 7 yr old does not need to be told “NO” this many times.
By Brittanicus
May 19, 2008 1:10 PM | Link to this
Last Thursday, Ted Kennedy was co-ordinating Sen. Diane Feinstein, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and their (D-CA) managed to get a gigantic Illegal Alien Amnesty deceitfully attached to the Iraq War funding bill. Because this amnesty is attached to a so-called “must-pass” funding bill, it will now prove very difficult to defeat. Kennedy is in hospital, but it’s doubted the bill will not be voted on..?
Our danger is SEVERE! Let me remind you of the stakes in this fight. If it passes, this bill will GIVE AN AMNESTY to about 3 MILLION Illegal Aliens agricultural workers and their families for five years (at least!). You the taxpayer will be paying for their medical care, schooling and much more; compliments of parasite employers and farmers.
TOGETHER Citizens and Permanent residence can defeat this repugnant bill. Call toll-free (202-224-3121) Fax for free NUMBERSUSA Jam politicians switch boards
By Rickster
May 19, 2008 1:12 PM | Link to this
Why go through all this trouble and money to put an end to a problem that could be easily solved by using what is already in place? First of all, look at the cause of the problem: the ONLY reason illegal (or legal for that matter -which, by the way, there is nothing wrong with the latter method)people come to this country in the first place is work, live a better life and send money back to their families where they came from. Solution: cut the leak off at the source!!! If they come here illegally, and the owner of the companies that hire them, (by the way, if they can’t produce a SSN, I-9 form, work visa or green card, safe to assume they’re in the country illegally!), hire them knowing they’re illegal, said company is fined $10,000 (min.) per illegal, and the owner of said company goes to prison for a mininum sentence of 10 years. Done and done!!! No fences to build, no money to spend; nothing, because there won’t be a company (owner, president or CEO) willing to take the risk of lossing it all to hire cheap illegal workers. And by the way, the additional work needed to process and administrate the additional workload (i.e.: additional job that someone has to perform, can be given to the poor suckers that lost their $15/hr job to the illegals that took it for $5/hr! Disclaimer: This solution will only work if we have a President that’s willing to grow a spine and keep the best interests of his/her U.s> citizens in mind!!!
Just a comment (solution) to a continually growing problem.
By gttim
May 19, 2008 1:19 PM | Link to this
Solving the illegal immigration problem is not that hard. Simply fine and jail all employers, or company officers of companies, who hire illegal aliens as employees or contractors. Verification would not be that hard. However, the government would never do that. Corporate America, which currently own our government, does not want it done. They want illegal immigrant labor to suppress wages and benefits, and hopefully break all unions. SO far it is working.
Remember it was Sonny Perdue who stop raids on farm workers in south Georgia, most of whom are illegal immigrants. The large farm corporations needed the cheap labor to get crops in. They did not, and do not, want to pay a fair wage for the work.
By Jimmy Or
May 19, 2008 1:36 PM | Link to this
First,to Dorothy in Kansas. You don’t have a clue. Second D.A. King is one of the leading subject matter experts on illegal immigration in America. It would behoove our elected officials in local, state, and federal government to hear what Mr. King has to say about this matter. America cannot continue to be the clearing house for the education, employment, health,and social services for those who have entered our country illegally. If our federal government had enforced our immigration laws we would not be in the mess we are in today with only God knows the number of illegal immigrants in our country today. Remember, the candidates for President of the United States favor an amnesty for the criminals (illegal immigrants) who have entered our country illegally. I don’t know what Bob Barr’s position on amnesty is. What I recommend that you do if you are against illegal immigration is become a NumbersUSA faxer and become a member of Mr. King’s The Dustin Inman Society. If you go on the Dustin Inman site, this will (including Dorothy) open your eyes on illegal immigration. Play football America! Kick their illegal butts out of our country!
By MisterContractor
May 19, 2008 1:46 PM | Link to this
Like most folks in the real world, I pay my workers in cash. I don’t need no “e verify” b.s.
By Jerry
May 19, 2008 1:49 PM | Link to this
Racist to even mention ILLEGAL immigration? How do you figure that? Seems to weaken the use of “racist”!
By GaMinutemen
May 19, 2008 1:51 PM | Link to this
The enforcement of Georgia’s labor laws are the Responsibility of the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Labor, Michael L. Thurmond. His department is responsible to administer the “Rules of the Ga. DOL: Ga. Security & Immigration Compliance Act of 2006; Chapter 300-10-1 “Public Employers, their Contractors and Subcontractors required to verify New Employee Work Eligibility through A Federal Work Authorization Program”
These DOL rules are available on the Ga. DOL at
http://www.dol.state.ga.us/spotlight/spsb529newrules.htm
Furthermore under Chapter 300-10-1- .09, it is the responsibility of Commissioner Thurmond’s department to audit municipalities and public employers to insure compliance of Georgia’s labor. Commissioner Thurmond has failed to implement his own departments rulings and we need to bring attention to our state representatives to insure that the Commissioner is afforded the proper funding to train auditors and put them into the field as is required. GA MCDC
By backfromiraq
May 19, 2008 1:57 PM | Link to this
gttim, You are only 1/2 correct. Sonny stopped the raids in south Georgia but only as a result Saxby bidding on behalf of the farm industry his primary contributor. Follow the money!!
By Jimmy Orr
May 19, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this
My May 19, 2008, comment @ 1:36 P.M. should have read as being posted by Jimmy Orr and not Jimmy Or. Darn bifocals. Suppose that’s the price of growing old. That and our federal government not having the backbone to enforce our federal immigration laws. Also, forgot to mention that George W. Bush supports the creation of a North American Union comprised of Canda, Mexico, and the United States. A North American Union whose currency would be the Amero dollar much like the Euro dollar in the Europen Union countries. The North American Union would negate our national sovereignty. Put America and American workers FIRST!!!
By Barr ? not here
May 19, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this
Barr said on the Boortz radio show last month that he would legalize the illegals…the Libertarians say they will eliminate all immigration quotas…it’s open borders with Mexico and Canada! Ayy? Si? Lower wages, no worries about “illegal”.
Check out the Libertarian Website.
Barr ain’t so anxious for you to know that and will not debate D.A. King on immigration…how brave.
But a smart move.
By Barr ? not here
May 19, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this
Barr said on the Boortz radio show last month that he would legalize the illegals…the Libertarians say they will eliminate all immigration quotas…it’s open borders with Mexico and Canada! Ayy? Si? Lower wages, no worries about “illegal”.
Check out the Libertarian Website.
Barr ain’t so anxious for you to know that and will not debate D.A. King on immigration…how brave.
But a smart move.
By Anon
May 19, 2008 2:26 PM | Link to this
Everybody is determined to eliminate the employment of illegal immigrants so that they can employ “hard-working Americans who need the jobs”. I have to laugh at this opinion because I find it very hard to believe that you would find Americans to actually do the jobs that most illegal immigrants do. Landscapers, Nannies, Building & Farm Laborers, fruit & vegetable pickers, busboys, cleaners, porters….need I go on??? Why do you think the undocumented are being employed??? They are doing all those tedious but necessary jobs that the Americans wouldn’t entertain. The fact that they are being paid a fraction of what legal citizens are paid, they’re working longer & unsociable hours. Most of them are good honest workers trying to earn a decent living for them yet they are treated like pariahs for doing so. I would find it hard to believe that none of you have had work done by undocumented citizens because you just don’t want to or don’t have the time to do it yourself. Throwing the illegal’s out on the street would only lead to bigger problems including higher crime. The undocumented do not want amnesty, they want the chance to create a life for themselves legally & are willing to work extremely hard in order to get it, but if there is no system in place that allows them to do it legally; what option do they have??? The cure for the problem of illegal immigration is to establish a realistic immigration system and to bring the unauthorized population out of the shadows through an earned legalization program. Turning the undocumented into pariahs is not in the nation’s best interest. Wake up people.
By Annoyed
May 19, 2008 2:28 PM | Link to this
Everybody is determined to eliminate the employment of illegal immigrants so that they can employ “hard-working Americans who need the jobs”. I have to laugh at this opinion because I find it very hard to believe that you would find Americans to actually do the jobs that most illegal immigrants do. Landscapers, Nannies, Building & Farm Laborers, fruit & vegetable pickers, busboys, cleaners, porters….need I go on??? Why do you think the undocumented are being employed??? They are doing all those tedious but necessary jobs that the Americans wouldn’t entertain. The fact that they are being paid a fraction of what legal citizens are paid, they’re working longer & unsociable hours. Most of them are good honest workers trying to earn a decent living for them yet they are treated like pariahs for doing so. I would find it hard to believe that none of you have had work done by undocumented citizens because you just don’t want to or don’t have the time to do it yourself. Throwing the illegal’s out on the street would only lead to bigger problems including higher crime. The undocumented do not want amnesty, they want the chance to create a life for themselves legally & are willing to work extremely hard in order to get it, but if there is no system in place that allows them to do it legally; what option do they have??? The cure for the problem of illegal immigration is to establish a realistic immigration system and to bring the unauthorized population out of the shadows through an earned legalization program. Turning the undocumented into pariahs is not in the nation’s best interest. Wake up people.
By Georgia Native
May 19, 2008 2:32 PM | Link to this
We have laws to govern us that we must abide that protect us daily. Illegal means they have broken the law. 1)Build the fence that will keep more from coming in to America illegally. (Whomever promises and delivers on finishing the fence between USA and Mexico has my solid vote to be President and seat in House/Senate.
2) Continue to catch and deport illegal immigrants along with giving them paperwork to submit and go through the process of becoming an American the legal manner.
3) Approve the thousands of good, educated applicants that took the proper legal route to become citizens.
There is no “loop hole” in an illegal having given birth to a child illegally in America. That does not qualify the child as being eligible for citizenship automatically. Interpretation should be straight forward and stead fast as written / intended.
By Immigration That Makes Sense
May 19, 2008 2:35 PM | Link to this
Interesting. Force American Businesses to use a flawed database not designed for this use to verify whether EVERY worker (not just the “illegal”) is authorized to work in the United States. Hmm. Why would American employer feel unfortable about this? Seems that there must be something more than a desire for cheap labor.
Wait, there is that little problem with the 8% or so error rate it the datebase. Doesn’t seem like much until you realized there are 300,000,000 people in the datase! That is 24,000,000 people with error that will prevent them from working.
Wait, there is another little problem. IF you are working a second job, under the mandatory use of this database, you will be stopped from working at your second job, becuase your social security number is already being used at your first job! You will just have to meander your way over to social secuirty to have them fixt that for you. I am sure that will not take any time at all.
Wait, there is that other problem with the database having NO biometric information. That means the database cannot tell whether YOU are the person who is applying of the job, only that the social security number matches that name and is authorized to work.
Why do you think employer like SWIFT, which was raided last year and had more than 1,000 people working illegally was not fined by ICE? They were part of and using E-verify!
So, with this and other problems to numerous to mention, perhaps we would better solve the problem by creating a national identity photographic/biometric card for everyone?
Or perhaps we could have a LEGAL immigration system that did not encourage and force illegality?
Or is that a little Orwellian?
By Immigration That Makes Sense
May 19, 2008 2:35 PM | Link to this
Interesting. Force American Businesses to use a flawed database not designed for this use to verify whether EVERY worker (not just the “illegal”) is authorized to work in the United States. Hmm. Why would American employer feel unfortable about this? Seems that there must be something more than a desire for cheap labor.
Wait, there is that little problem with the 8% or so error rate it the datebase. Doesn’t seem like much until you realized there are 300,000,000 people in the datase! That is 24,000,000 people with error that will prevent them from working.
Wait, there is another little problem. IF you are working a second job, under the mandatory use of this database, you will be stopped from working at your second job, becuase your social security number is already being used at your first job! You will just have to meander your way over to social secuirty to have them fixt that for you. I am sure that will not take any time at all.
Wait, there is that other problem with the database having NO biometric information. That means the database cannot tell whether YOU are the person who is applying of the job, only that the social security number matches that name and is authorized to work.
Why do you think employer like SWIFT, which was raided last year and had more than 1,000 people working illegally was not fined by ICE? They were part of and using E-verify!
So, with this and other problems to numerous to mention, perhaps we would better solve the problem by creating a national identity photographic/biometric card for everyone?
Or perhaps we could have a LEGAL immigration system that did not encourage and force illegality?
Or is that a little Orwellian?
By Our Fault
May 19, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this
I used to be against keeping illegal immigrants here but I realize we made it so easy for them it is our own fault. We should allow the ones we have here already to pay back taxes and penalties and let them stay. It would be nice to be able to stop illegal immigration as well, but since the two parties do not recognize this as a security issue they will continue to fight until something will finally be done in 30 years. We do need to get a control on welfare and the idiots still having kids who can not afford them, I am tired of taxes going towards people who abuse the sysytem.
By Phil
May 19, 2008 3:00 PM | Link to this
The police use data bases all the time to check drivers licences. They have been doing this for probably 40 years and there doesn’t seem to be a problem.
By bill millette
May 19, 2008 3:01 PM | Link to this
I am in complete agreement with DA King. About a year ago I exchnged emails with Mike King who cavalierly dismissed my statement of the crime of stealing into America as a civil crime not criminal. His whole tone was challenging and supportive of the ILLEGALS. I no longer bother to communicate with him. I will resume communication after he is replaced by an illegal—oops—I mean—-undocumented- fabricator- ooops - I mean journalist.
By American worker
May 19, 2008 3:09 PM | Link to this
Immigration that makes sense: 2% 0f 8%..try harder. Appeal process like the man said. I am guessing your employ illegals…si?
You act as if Americans are not willing workers. They are - but not for $5-10 an hour. Try to grasp “taxpayer subsidized”.
Annoyed: You just came out of the closet for open borders, but haven’t realized it yet.
5 billion people on the planet would move here tomorrow and call it “reasonable” that they would have a better life.
Nice to see the open borders types start posting…
WHAT OPTION DO THEY HAVE? Stay home - we are running out of water and room here. Go to your local school/emergency room tomorrow.How many is enough…what wage is low enough for Americans?
WE TAKE MORE IMMIGRATION THAN ANY NATION NOW! I for one don’t want to end up like China!
By Phil
May 19, 2008 3:23 PM | Link to this
Most illegals have reentered the country multiple times after being kicked out. This does make them felons. Many legals help the illegals get into the country and get jobs which make a lot of the legals felons for aid and abetting illegal immigration.
By Bill Adams
May 19, 2008 3:35 PM | Link to this
Just back from Iraq, and running for Ga. Senate 006 seat! My question is why don’t we allow wounded Iraqi interpreters to come here instead of sheep herders or whatever low tech skilled individuals allowed that will become a financial drain? Also the article that the AJC had a few days back about building high end condos near the NEC, will be bombed most likely once the Embassy comes on line, so who will be putting down money for those other than the contractors pulling down big bucks? Iraq is a harbinger of things to come in this country if we do not get a handle on our borders via employers, English only (lawyers hate this idea), Fair Tax, and a must is to capture Bin alive to try him, so his image of being the Robin Hood to the poor Muslisms, and they are many, can be dispelled, and we no longer look like the Sheriff of Nottingham on behalf of the Royals all over the Middle East! The Saudis really are pumping more oil? God Bless and keep up the fight for our grand children, because too many in the boat, and it will capsize! Bill Adams 404-732-3363
By Jan Herron
May 19, 2008 3:39 PM | Link to this
D.A. King’s article in today’s AJC is right on target when he says that “no law can work unless it is enforced”. A friend of mine often says “just because the toilet isn’t being flushed, doesn’t mean it’s broken….it just isn’t being flushed”. Same with our immigration enforcement laws, they are not broken, they are just not being enforced. Perhaps the time has come for the well-versed D.A. King to educate our politicians and inform them that illegal immigration is the No. 1 issue facing our nation. His commentary speaks volumes.
By lovelyliz
May 19, 2008 3:56 PM | Link to this
Make the risks and punishment for hiring illegals a deterrent. The slap on the wrist that employers might get if they are ever caught makes hiring illegals to good a deal.
Start carting the bosses/owners off to jail and you might see the jobs for illegal immigrants dry up.
By marekallens
May 19, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this
When we have to lower our quotas for people who have applied to come here legally becasue we have too many illegals; there is a problem. When mothers and children on waiting lists trying to flee from countries torn by war and landmines have to wait it doesn’t make the news. When the local factory that used to be the main source of new jobs in the community no longer hires as many graduating kids from town because it found a cheaper source of labor it doesn’t make the news.
Those mothers and children waiting on a list some with limbs missing as a result of violence in their country bother me more than someone who saved several thousand dollars to hire a coyote to help smuggle them across the border. I have more compassion for women and children who are victims of war and ethnic cleansing sitting patiently on a list legally than most of the pro-immigration folks do I guess. The very picture of children who are now or will soon be missing arms or legs sitting patiently in violent conditions so some large farm operation or corporate jerk can save a few bucks is repulsive. The untold story that remains untold so folks can generate sympathy for someone illegally violating borders and becoming a drain on the economy by taking jobs that are among those that feed our own poor is distressing. Saying that it will cost the tax payers too much to fix it is also distressing. A simple law that makes it a crime with a $10,000 fine and mandatory 10 year sentence for knowingly hiring illegals, no parole for first offense per illegal and double the next time would put money in the treasury and end the illegal immigration right quick. The European immigrants filled out forms took tests etc. As did Asian immigrants, what are we telling them by laxing things for others? That they are somehow less desirable? Is that right or even fair? I have no problem with anyone using the proper legal channels, we are a melting pot and it has contributed to our greatness. The system is there for a reason let it work. If you choose to talk about immigration please do not forget those on waiting lists, sitting there and suffering because someone wants cheap labor. Those women and children living with landmines and war deserve better than a blind eye they have been given. They filled out the forms, they are in dire need. Perhaps we are racists as we choose the race from south of the border from a country we hear about constantly rather then countries we hardly hear about. Perhaps we also are a bit greedy as cheap labor means more to us than real physical suffering. When you go to Home Depot to pick up a day laborer try to keep a mental picture of a mother and daughter on crutches, missing limbs from a landmine and then if you can live with that go ahead. But remember your cheap labor may mean one less life or limb saved.
By lovelyliz
May 19, 2008 4:00 PM | Link to this
Has anyone built a border fence along the USA/Mexico border that immigrants didn’t crawl over, under, go around or cut down?
Some contractor is making it rich off the taxpayer trough and it won’t stop illegal immigration as long as the jobs are available.
By NOLAWBREAKERS
May 19, 2008 4:10 PM | Link to this
I’m never surprised anymore by any op-ed written by MIKE KING. He has definitely hopped in bed with the pro illegal alien crowd. I expect to see him and Jerry Gonzalez (of GALEO) skipping down the street holding hands any day now. On the other hand—DA KING is a true American patriot. He (along with most Americans) wants our laws enforced. Sorry illegals - the writing is on the wall — go home.
By ted
May 19, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this
When will white people get it? There is nothing wrong with being a raciest and as soon as we can accept that then we can move forward and put this country back on the right track.
By Fix-It
May 19, 2008 4:44 PM | Link to this
Annoyed, are you as naive as you sound? They don’t want amnesty because they just want to make money and go home, or send the money home. They come here so they can retire in comfort in Mexico. If they wanted to do the right thing they could, I have friends that have done the right thing and the whole process took 2 years. So stop the stupidity, follow the laws or go to jail. We can send a man to the moon, Google can look in my window, but we can’t stop illegals from bringing their drugs and bad habits over the border…. Please give me a break. If you don’t like the laws here change them, or leave you have that freedom. Hey Annoyed, who did those jobs for the last 400 years? I guess we just where not living right till the last 20 years, what a lame brain, a mind is a terrible thing to waste….
By Ken
May 19, 2008 4:51 PM | Link to this
What scares me the most is the thought of the left and right.
The left insist illegals are only doing jobs we don’t wont.
The right insist businesses need illegals to stay competitive. I live in rural GA. The job market is very tight. And yes I was priced out of the jobs in agribusiness.
Remove emotions and logic prevails.
By GA_Tiger Fan
May 19, 2008 4:56 PM | Link to this
Any and all means necessary should be used to stop the flood of illegal aliens into our country. Then, we send the ones here home.
By Dick Bachert
May 19, 2008 4:58 PM | Link to this
What part of “illegal” don’t our ALLEGED “leaders” understand.
If the alien INVASION — and that’s what it is — isn’t stopped, any vestige of Western European culture — the culture MY great-grandparents and probably yours brought here after standing in line at places like Ellis Island, being interrogated, deloused and recorded — will be a distant memory – IF it’s remembered at all.
By Bonzo
May 19, 2008 5:04 PM | Link to this
The biggest reason that the E-Verify is showing so many people ineligible when they aren’t is because they don’t finish filing their paperwork with Social Security like they are supposed to.
By Dick Bachert
May 19, 2008 5:04 PM | Link to this
My niece is an OB/GYN who took her pre-med at HAAAAVVAAAAADDD! Needless to say, she emerged from that experience a FLAMING, BLEEDING HEART LIBERAL.
Upon completing her medical training at yet another liberal university, she interned at a hospital near the border in San Diego.
It was there that a mystical transformation took place: She began to connect the heavy deductions from the GROSS EARNINGS for which she busted her butt for as many as 72 virtually sleepless hours in a row with the taxis and jalopies regularly sliding to the curb in front of the ER.
Many of them contained pregnant illegals who won the race to deliver their babies HERE. She caught many of those “anchor babies” who, under the current — and ERRONEOUS — interpretation of the 14th Amendment were IMMEDIATELY NEW AMERICANS. The mother – who, obviously, could not care for the child if she were back in her native land — could not be deported now even if the INS and the political bosses WANTED her deported . And as the mother of a new US citizen, the woman could remain here for about as long as she cared to – and that was usually for life.
Most of those patients were welfare recipients and the deliveries were charity cases: The bill for the hospital’s – and HER services – were routinely spread over the bills of those who DO pay. And what the other users of those facilities don’t cover went back to the taxpayers.
And since my niece was now a taxpayer, they were costing HER.
And while she may not exactly be a libertarian, today she’s now a LOOONNNNG way from Haaaavaaaaaad.
And just so the bleeders who might see this don’t think me some sort of ethnocentric bigot, I submit this problem is MORE than just about illegals.
Before my oldest daughter was born at University Hospital in Cleveland in 1967, I sat in the main lobby as welfare mother-to-be after welfare mother-to-be shuffled through the door to the maternity ER for THEIR free deliveries.
Before WE could take OUR daughter home, I had to cough up over 3 grand. And that was a great deal of dough in 1967, especially for a guy just out of the USAF.
As I wrote the check, I remembered the magazine article I’d recently read by a hospital administrator from Massachusetts who admitted that all US hospitals practiced a form of medical Marxism, spreading the costs of care for indigents over the bills of those who DO pay for care. Given the move to socialism here, it probably will never be otherwise: Not counting Byzantine complexity and confusion, government produces – and has — NOTHING unless it first takes it from some PERSON. SOMEBODY ALWAYS PAYS.
Look, I have a big enough problem paying for the 3rd and 4th generation slackers and welfare bums who were BORN here.
It’s time we stopped paying for those who were not.
By Bob
May 19, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this
Paying Social Security is a current legal requirement of working in our country. Regardless of one’s opinion on SS generally, filing a fraudulent number on an employment application is simply unlawful. Our elected officials are not granted the power to decide which laws to enforce, they are to enforce them equally. If the SS database is incorrect, it should be corrected. Our employers likewise have an obligation under the law to submit correct tax identification, and the required check takes seconds, surely not an unreasonable cost to business. A lot of the rest of this is smoke and mirrors occasioned by other agendas. We have a law. The law is clear. The law applies to all of us. Enforce the law.
By Karl
May 19, 2008 5:23 PM | Link to this
D.A. King deserves our thanks from all sides; yes, even the illegals. It is without a doubt that the illegals were attracted here because our country has a rule of law. Now, enforce the law and send them home where they may get in line to apply for U.S. citizenship. Oh, as for the AJC article, how can a discussion of e-Verify devolve into fear mongering about the backlog of disability cases and the projection of $40 billion over 10 years ? Again, we thank you D.A. King for your selfless endeavors to ensure our sovereignty.
By JUNE_BABY
May 19, 2008 6:39 PM | Link to this
imo, people blaming liberals for illegal immigration, are using a smoke screen. the reasons for hiring illegals is for the cheap labor they provide. whether small business or large corporations, it all comes down to greedy business. in my experience that spells rethugblicans, as 90% of greedy business owners are rethugblicans.they will do anything to make a buck, take a buck, counterfiet a buck, or scam a buck. since ronnie reagan, greed became the rethugblican oath of conduct.
By Bobby Stars
May 19, 2008 6:50 PM | Link to this
I’m very concerned about immigration fraud and eVerify seems to be a step inthe right direction. If someone is legal and they don’t come up in eVerify, they should be able to prove their legal status. We can’t keep letting the illegals run the show because solutions aren’t perfect from day one!
I just read the new book “Legal US Immigration: Truth, Fraud and the American Way” by Adam Edward Rothwell, an immigration lawyer, and I couldn’t believe how much fraud there is in the system. And the book’s website (www.immigrationisamess.com ) says it all. If eVerify can help, we should be trying to expand it rather than throwing it by the wayside.
By lovelyliz
May 19, 2008 6:58 PM | Link to this
Illigeal immigrants who buy Social Security numbers pay SS taxes without receiving benifits to the tune of some $5B that ends up in a suspense file at the SSA.
Just ask the chief actuary over at the Social Security Administration
By April
May 19, 2008 7:00 PM | Link to this
D.A. King is exactly right, as usual. E-Verify should be required and if it were, almost overnight, the majority of illegals in this country would not be able to get work and would self deport — exactly the intent. Miss. is requiring this starting 7/1/08. I think it will be interesting to see where the illegals currently living in MS move to — states nearby not requiring E-Verify…
By Boots
May 19, 2008 7:00 PM | Link to this
Mr. King has pointed out probably the most efficient way of dealing with this costly problem.
Fences —- well, there may come a time when we want to get the hell out of here, so what fences out also fences in.
Heavy fines for employers who hire illegals should be the law and enforced without prejudice.
By SalleMarti
May 19, 2008 7:04 PM | Link to this
I thank D A King for his continued efforts to keep American sovereign. How is someone entering our country ILLEGALLY seen as anything other than Breaking the LAW. I admit I feel less charitable to the Hispanic than any other group of people. Our health departments are running over with them at our expense…go to the grocery..they are using food stamps meant for legal americans who are less fortunate..our emergency rooms are full of them, of course at our expense! I am just sick of how our elected officals turn their backs on the average hardworking American.
By Taxpayer
May 19, 2008 7:09 PM | Link to this
The comments, those from the referenced editorial, and many others simply amaze me. Cited are all the problems with the Social Security Administration, Homeland Security, delays in processing everything, etc., as examples of why not to use an existing government organization to check citizenship status, immigration status, etc. We either cannot see the “forest for the trees” or “trees for the forest” depending on the problem at hand and it seems like it’s always the opposite view of what should be taken. In this case, all you have really done is emphasize the need to fix what is already broken and do it now. If the Social Security Administration has a database that is outdated, then why? Is this database linked to the database used by the IRS to process income tax returns? Are these two databases linked in any way to the database that handles passports? Are all government employees run through a common database? What about the states and their dependence on the federal databases? Why are we paying taxes? I just don’t need even more reasons to vote for someone like Ron Paul. I want to see someone in government do something real, for a change. What we have now is a joke and the joke is on us.
By Danny Boy in Athensgrad
May 19, 2008 7:37 PM | Link to this
D.A. King said it well and the blog shows one thing: Illegal immigration is still THE red hot issue with we the people.
I wish there was someone I could vote for for president that I thought would tackle the problem honestly.There isn’t. I won’t vote.
Clinton says amnesty. Obama says amnesty. McKennedyCain says amnesty -after I tell you the borders are closed. ( uh, yeah, I would trust him?) They are all against us Americans.
Thank you DAK! Write for the AJC more often!
By Bill Adams
May 19, 2008 8:42 PM | Link to this
Do you place comments or don’t you?
By GaMinutemen
May 19, 2008 9:29 PM | Link to this
Friends, Your Senate is going to vote on another Amnesty bill tomorrow or Thursday. http://www.numbersusa.com/PDFs/AgJOBSAmnesty2008.pdf
By tomT
May 19, 2008 9:59 PM | Link to this
The liberals and illegal alien lobbist want you to believe it does not work because they know that it will work 90% of the time. By inserting this bill with the defense supplemental budget diane finestein is paying back her big business contributors. Steal from American taxpayers and give to big corps.as pay back and suppoert illegal aliens.
By ConcernedGeorgian
May 19, 2008 10:06 PM | Link to this
Donald Arthur King recently claimed that E-Verify is the way to go for moving forward with an enforcement only approach to our failed immigration policies. However, E-Verify is not made to operate in the manner in which they are proposing.
On January 1, 2008 the Legal Arizona Workers Act went into effect, which requires all employers in the state to enroll in and use the E-Verify system to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires. While not yet fully implemented in Arizona, E-Verify is already showing significant signs of trouble - including its negative impact on Arizona workers and employers, as well as the state’s economy.
Many U.S. citizens are being held up for their employment while the government clears them to work. In fact, with an error rate of 4.1 , a full 10 of naturalized U.S. citizens are initially told they are not authorized to work. It is unacceptable to promote such a system when it will impact many U.S. citizens in the process.
By ConcernedGeorgian
May 19, 2008 10:09 PM | Link to this
Donald Arthur King recently claimed that E-Verify is the way to go for moving forward with an enforcement only approach to our failed immigration policies. However, E-Verify is not made to operate in the manner in which they are proposing.
On January 1, 2008 the Legal Arizona Workers Act went into effect, which requires all employers in the state to enroll in and use the E-Verify system to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires. While not yet fully implemented in Arizona, E-Verify is already showing significant signs of trouble - including its negative impact on Arizona workers and employers, as well as the state’s economy.
Many U.S. citizens are being held up for their employment while the government clears them to work. In fact, with an error rate of 4.1 , a full 10 of naturalized U.S. citizens are initially told they are not authorized to work. It is unacceptable to promote such a system when it will impact many U.S. citizens in the process.
By Danny Boy in Athensgrad
May 19, 2008 10:51 PM | Link to this
Concerned Georgian is too funny. E-Verify was designed EXACTLY for verifying work eligibility. It’s only purpose. Click here to see if we can figure out who ‘concerned Georgian’ is…and how he makes his money. http://www.galeo.org/story.php?story_id=0000004671
Another thing D.A. King taught me. Know the enemy of secure borders.
By Danny Boy in Athensgrad
May 19, 2008 10:55 PM | Link to this
How can someone - anyone - be “held up for employment” by E-Verify when the emplyer cannot use E-Verify to until the employee has already been hired? Makes as much sense as the rest of the nonsense put out by the far left I guess.
Yowsa. So stupid an argument he posted it twice.
By Political Mongrel
May 20, 2008 12:26 AM | Link to this
Fix the database problems as much and as quickly as possible. Build in a mechanism to quickly allow wrong data to be fixed, but require considerable proof.
Make the border fence along the entire border, not just 1/3 of it. DO NOT put US land on the other side of the border, as is happening now (causing enormous problems for the owners of that land) even if it’s inconvenient or difficult to build.
Send all caught illegals back to their country of origin. If they’re married to a legal, too bad. Give the legal a chance to stay or go with the spouse. If their children are legal and citizens, let them stay, but only if a legal parent stays with them.
Keep adult repeat offenders in a tent city in the desert for at least a month for each repeat offense, and then send them back.
Put up with no more guff from Mexico. Mexico does not allow immigration. Their immediate past president encouraged their citizens by the millions to violate US laws, but their treatment of US citizens who break even minor Mexican laws is often barbarous and draconian. Don’t put up with the hypocrisy.
By cripvet
May 20, 2008 6:12 AM | Link to this
Yes indeed, if you so-called “regular Americans” don’t get it together you will surely lose a quarter of OUR country to a group of people who think corruption is a way of life and want the USA to be run that way as well. From the Rio Grande to the tip of tierra del fuego there is NOT ONE functioning democracy. You have one writer in this paper who is a stuanch defender of these invading hordes, Tucker, and she is doing a disservice to both Black and White.
By hmm
May 20, 2008 6:24 AM | Link to this
Yes, send them all back! But what should we do about all the Germans, Canadians, Italians, Brits, Cubans and Polish who came here in the eighties? What should we do about all the Cubans who came here in the nineties?
By DinTN
May 20, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
AMNESTY ALERT!
The country is in great danger this week of a major amnesty for illegal aliens. The threat level is extremely high. We are on red alert, but we have overcome odds like this before and won. We can do it again with your help. Your country needs you!
We can beat this amnesty ONLY if all of you send the FREE faxes and make phone calls!
Illegal aliens would be entitled to: Bring his spouse and children here to join him, or legalize their status, if they are already here illegally;
Official U.S. government identification documents, including a valid social security number—with which he would be able to apply for a driver’s license—and a work permit (spouses would be allowed to apply for work permits, as well); and
Immunity from prosecution for committing social security fraud if he had been working illegally with a false or stolen social security number.
Join www.numbersusa.com NOW and stop the Feinstein AgJOBS amnesty bill! www.alipac.us www.fairus.org www.capsweb.org
By Lynn
May 20, 2008 11:20 AM | Link to this
Thanks again to D A King. With your knowlege, I agree E-Verify is yet another tool American’s need in our fight against illegal aliens. DA~ Thanks for all you do in stopping the invasion, it’s been a long tough road and I’m not talking, Absolute! Keep up the good work, Mr. King, you are not alone. Many are with you!
By Spire
May 20, 2008 1:26 PM | Link to this
Sure making e-verify mandatory would scare illegals from the states…just look at Arizona. They made e-verify mandatory and pretty much all the illegals left. Thats great right? Not really.
Arizona’s economy is now collapsing. The real problem is not the illegal immigration exists. The real problem is that the United States currently does not allow enough legal immigration to fulfill the demand for immigrant labourors. Untill we adopt a reasonable approach towards legal immigration we cannot stop illegal immigration.
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May 20, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this
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May 20, 2008 2:28 PM | Link to this
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By American worker
May 20, 2008 4:38 PM | Link to this
Unemployment plummets after crackdown on illegals Lawmaker: Oklahoma no longer ‘OK’ for undocumented aliens
April 25, 2008
Unemployment rates are rising across the United States, except Oklahoma. That state is experiencing the most dramatic reduction in unemployment since 2007, an improvement many in Oklahoma attribute to the passage last year by the state legislature of a strong employment-focused immigration reform law.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported unemployment in Oklahoma had fallen to 3.1 percent in March, down from 4 percent in March last year, while unemployment nationwide was 5.1 percent, up from 4.4 percent in March last year. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=62537
Just in case the AJC forgot to publish thi one.