Over the past year, the administration and Congressional Democrats have touted their No. 1 priority as “jobs, jobs, jobs;” however, their actions over the past year have proved otherwise.
As the economy tanked and the number of unemployed soared, the White House pushed a so-called stimulus loaded with money for pet projects and special interests, job-killing cap-and-trade legislation, and a Washington takeover of the health care system.
While the economy has by no means recovered, Congressional Democrats have once again displayed the breadth of their misplaced priorities by introducing mass amnesty legislation in the House of Representatives. The legislation contains a potpourri of highly questionable provisions, but the most outrageous aspect of the bill is that it jeopardizes millions of jobs for Americans and legal residents.
Among its provisions, the legislation recently unveiled by House Democrats grants amnesty to the estimated 12 million illegal aliens currently residing in the United States, thereby protecting them from removal and allowing them to work and travel freely throughout our nation. With over 15 million Americans unemployed and an estimated 7 million illegals employed, granting amnesty to those that have recklessly disregarded our nation’s immigration laws is an affront to American citizens and legal residents.
In addition, the legislation severely weakens existing and proven worksite enforcement activities. The bill throws E-Verify in the trash, a commonsense program which checks workers’ names and Social Security numbers to confirm employment eligibility and enjoys a success rate of 99.6 percent, and reinvents the wheel with a new, yet extremely vague, employment verification system.
Furthermore, the bill increases mandates during immigration-related enforcement activities by requiring the presence of social service agencies, translators and legal services. As the Obama administration has already weakened and cut back on the number of worksite enforcement actions, this provision sends a message to illegals that they can keep coming to the United States and take jobs away from citizens and legal immigrants.
Rather than enacting a “comprehensive” plan that would put illegals on a path to citizenship, I believe that Congress must take an enforcement-first approach to solving our nation’s immigration and border security. To this end, my bill, the Loophole Elimination and Verification Enforcement Act, will stem the inflow of illegal aliens by securing our borders, denying access to American jobs and closing loopholes in our government programs that provide access to benefits.
With an enforcement strategy, the United States could reduce the illegal population by as many as 1.5 million each year, which would more than halve our current illegal alien population in five years, and create 7 million jobs for citizens and legal workers. By securing the border and ending the job magnet, illegals will lack incentives to cross the border and the illegal alien population will begin to dwindle.
All in all, the administration and Congressional Democrats need to get their priorities in order. Millions of Americans are hurting and the unemployment rate is the highest we’ve seen in decades. Let’s put the American people back to work rather than add more to the unemployment roles.
Rep. Gary Miller is a Republican Member of Congress representing California’s 42nd District.