The New Immigration Bill Is a Trojan Horse for E-Verify and Is a Threat to All Americans
https://mises.org/wire/new-immigration-b...t-all-americans
05/09/2023
Ryan McMaken

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives are set to vote this week on new legislation that would greatly increase the federal government's power over private businesses, workers, and US citizens. Unfortunately, much of the GOP majority is supportive of the legislation—the “Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023” (HR 2640)—because it is being marketed as a bill "to secure the border."

Much of the bill contains reasonable provisions such allowing state attorneys general the authority to sue the federal government for refusing to detain illegal aliens. Other provisions include denying asylum and residency to known criminals. In many ways, the bill is an effort to rein in the executive branch's control over immigration policy.

Alarmingly, however, the legislation also contains a provision mandating nationwide use of "E-Verify" which is essentially a federal surveillance program that determines whether or not a person can be legally employed in the United States. Every American would require the federal government's permission to work. So long as the Border Security and Enforcement Act contains these E-Verify provisions, the bill presents a clear and present danger to basic American freedoms and property rights. The expansion of E-Verify would also go a long way in helping the federal government build essential infrastructure that in the future could be used to implement "social credit scores" or restrictions on employment for those who refuse federally mandated vaccines or other mandates.

E-Verify as Government Surveillance

E-Verify was initially implemented in 1997 as a program designed to prevent companies from employing foreign nationals who had entered the US illegally—i.e., "illegal aliens." The program was never made mandatory at the federal level, however. The program has generally been voluntary except for government employees in most states. Instead, mandated use of E-Verify has been a matter of state legislation, and some states have certainly been more enthusiastic about it than others.

Since implementation, only nine states have mandated the use of E-Verify for all employers. Florida is poised to be the next to impose these mandates on employers. Governor Ron DeSantis has repeatedly pushed to further regulate and surveil private businesses with universal E-Verify. Some states, such as Colorado, have implemented alternative, but similar, state-administered programs.

The Border Security and Enforcement Act of 2023, however, would mandate nationwide use of E-Verify for all employers, and remove state-level authority to approve or decline participation. In other words, Congress is now considering one of the largest expansions of federal employment regulation in years.

As if often the case, however, conservatives and Republicans are happy to embrace more federal power and regulation when it suits their political agendas. It's an old trick. Beginning in the days of the "War on Terror," conservatives and the GOP often promoted and approved new "antiterrorism" legislation creating vast federal spying and prosecutorial powers. Supporters often supposed such powers could only possibly be used against Islamic terrorists and other official enemies of the Bush Administration. A federal spying apparatus has since been erected and deployed against virtually all Americans.

Similar pro-regime arguments are now being used to promote E-Verify. We're told it will only be used against immigrants. We're told that unless you're breaking the law, you have nothing to worry about. We've heard these claims in other contexts many times before.

Observers who have refused to be taken in by the anti-immigrant hysterics have provided some key sanity. Last week, for example, Congressman Thomas Massie warned against keeping E-Verify in the proposed bill, writing -- excerpt, rest at link above --

Interesting POV. Not sure I agree with the author.

Florida Largest State in Country to Do Full E-Verify for Employment
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks to guests at the Republican Party of Marathon County Lincoln Day Dinner annual fundraiser on May 06, 2023 in Rothschild, Wisconsin. Although he has not yet announced his candidacy, DeSantis is expected to be among the top contenders vying for the Republican presidential nomination next …
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/...ify-employment/
Hannah Bleau
10 May 2023


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday highlighted his administration’s latest efforts to combat the nation’s border crisis via Senate Bill 1718, which essentially makes the Sunshine State the largest state in the country to do full E-Verify for employment.

Speaking from the Miller Electric Company in Jacksonville, Florida, DeSantis announced the signing of Senate Bill 1718 as Florida’s latest action to stand up against bad immigration policies at the federal level.

“Even the New York Times admitted this is the strongest legislation against illegal immigration anywhere in the country,” DeSantis said during the press conference, explaining that the bill “makes Florida the largest state in the country to do full E-Verify for employment.”

“And that’s important, because the people are going to come if they get benefits. And so what you want to do is say there’s not benefits for coming illegally,” he said, asserting that this alone will deter illegal immigrants from coming to Florida for refuge.

WATCH: Debris Field Along South Texas Border After 20K Migrants Cross in 12 Days:
Texas Department of Public Safety

“It’s already against the law for someone to be employed if they’re here illegally, but the E-Verify provides a way to make sure that that’s enforceable. So we think that that’s something that’s going to make a big, big difference,” DeSantis explained.

DeSantis said the bill also “enhances human smuggling penalties” and “prohibits county governments and NGOs from using tax dollars to provide IDs for illegal aliens.”

Florida, he said, will not recognize out-of-state licenses issued to illegal aliens from other states:

A lot of people in across the country who want open borders, they want driver’s licenses and you have it in — I think in California and a number of these other states. We’ve never done that. But what happens is you have some of these local governments that are actually working with private groups to generate ID cards to be able to be used, as if that makes you legal to be here. So we’re not going to recognize that. We’re also not going to recognize a driver’s license from California [if] it was issued to somebody here illegally or these other states.-- excerpt, rest at link above --