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'Turn off the job magnet'

The most recent research available indicates that more than one-quarter of the immigrants living in the United States are doing so illegally. Of the 37.5 million foreign-born individuals currently living in the U.S., demographer Jeffrey Passell of the Pew Hispanic Center has determined that 10.3 million, or 29 percent, either entered or remain in the country illegally. Passell combined previous research he had conducted with the March 2004 "Current Population Study" conducted by the Census Bureau and data from other federal agencies to arrive at his conclusions.

At a May 12 hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, Chairman John Hostettler (R-Ind.) argued that border enforcement alone would fail to stop millions more non-citizens from illegally crossing U.S. borders.

"We will only be able to assert control over illegal immigration when we can turn off the job magnet that draws most illegal aliens to our country," he said.

"Congress recognized the power of the job magnet in 1986, when we passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986," Hostettler continued. "This legislation made it unlawful for employers to knowingly hire or employ aliens not eligible to work, and required employers to check the identity and work eligibility documents of all new employees."

But an unintended consequence of IRCA, according to supporters of the new illegal immigration enforcement bill, was the explosion in phony identity documents used by illegal aliens seeking to verify their employment eligibility.

Jack Martin, director of special projects for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), told Cybercast News Service that the effectiveness of IRCA was reduced because employers could accept fraudulent documents and still claim they made a good faith effort to "verify" the eligibility of an illegal alien employee. As a result, serious legal action against offending employers has been rare.

"The employer sanctions law needs to be made effective by requiring employers to verify the work eligibility documents," Martin explained, "and a program already exists to do that."

Martin is referring to the Employment Verification Basic Pilot Program, which was created in November 1997 by the federal agency that would eventually become the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Under the program, employers check the Social Security number or Alien Registration number of a newly hired worker with the Social Security Administration (SSA) and USCIS. If the number is valid and the applicant's identifying information matches the data on file, the employer receives a confirmation to hire the person. If there is a discrepancy, the employee is instructed to contact USCIS' parent, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to correct the problem.

Originally launched in the five states believed to have the highest incidence of illegal immigration - California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois - the program expanded to include Nebraska in March 1999 and it has received many positive reviews.

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