Washington – The Senate voted Tuesday to require employers to use a vast new employment verification system that would let businesses distinguish between legal and illegal workers.
Employers would be required to enter the Social Security numbers or immigrant identification numbers of all job applicants, including citizens, into the computerized system, which would be created by the Department of Homeland Security.
The system would notify businesses within three days whether the applicant was authorized to work in the U.S.
Those job applicants determined to be illegal could not be hired or would have to be fired if they were already working.
The measure, approved 58-40, is included in a bill that would legalize the vast majority of the nation’s illegal immigrants. It is expected to pass the Senate later this week.
The new requirements would bring a broad operational shift for employers who have relied almost entirely on a paper system – the collection of identity documents – to determine the legal status of their workers.
The measure is considered a linchpin of the current immigration legislation because it is designed to deter illegal immigration by making it extremely difficult for undocumented immigrants to find work. Without such a provision, senators say, U.S. businesses would remain a powerful magnet for millions of illegal immigrants.
The legislation calls for creating documents that would be resistant to counterfeiting for legal immigrants and stiff fines for violations by employers. It requires the verification system to be operational and in use by all businesses within 18 months once Congress appropriates the money for it.
“This is probably the single most important thing we can do in terms of reducing the inflow of undocumented workers,” Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said of the measure, which was pushed ahead by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
Some administration officials, employers and lawmakers raised sharp questions about the amendment, which was developed in consultation with the American Civil Liberties Union. Officials at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce applauded the plan but expressed doubts that Homeland Security officials could speedily create such a system.
“Our conversations with the administration have indicated that 18 months is too short,” said Randy John son, vice president at the chamber.
Officials at the Department of Homeland Security sent e-mail messages to senators saying they had concerns about the system’s “workability and implementation.”
White House officials declined to comment, but participants in negotiations on the amendment said officials were concerned with a provision that would require the federal government to reimburse workers fired because of a mistake involving the system.
The vote in favor of employment verification came as the Senate rejected several amendments intended to help refugees and illegal immigrants affected by the legislation.
Critics say the legislation would increase the burdens on asylum seekers, eliminate federal review of deportation orders and leave millions of illegal immigrants in the shadows. Human rights groups are particularly concerned about a measure that would allow asylum seekers to be deported even while their claims were under review by federal courts.
“You would essentially be deporting refugees back to their countries of persecution,” said Eleanor Acer, director of the asylum program at Human Rights First, an advocacy group.
Difficult negotiations lie ahead between the Senate and House, where many Republicans strongly oppose legalization of illegal immigrants.
Hoping to narrow the gap between Senate and House Republicans on the issue, the leader of the House conservative caucus announced a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to participate in a guest-worker plan but would not grant them permanent residency or citizenship.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., would require the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to leave the country to apply for a slot in the program.
Immigration amendments
Here’s how the U.S. Senate has voted on key amendments to the immigration bill being debated by lawmakers, with votes by Colorado Sens. Wayne Allard, Republican, and Ken Salazar, Democrat, noted:
APPROVED
Employer fine
Voted 58-40 Tuesday to fine employers who hire illegal immigrants up to $20,000 for each unauthorized worker and eventually to toughen rules for checking worker IDs.
Allard and Salazar votes not available at press time
National Guard
Voted 83-10 Monday to authorize President Bush’s plan to dispatch National Guard troops to the border.
Allard and Salazar: yes
“Unifying language”
Voted 58-39 Thursday to declare English the “common and unifying language of the United States.”
Allard: no; Salazar: yes
“National language”
Voted 63-34 Thursday to declare English the “national language.”
Allard: yes; Salazar: no
Fences
Voted 83-16 on May 17 for building 370 miles of fencing along the Mexican border and 500 miles of vehicle barriers.
Allard and Salazar: yes
Ban on criminals
Voted 99-0 on May 17 to bar illegal immigrants convicted of any felony or three misdemeanors from remaining in the United States.
Allard and Salazar: yes
Qualified workers
Voted 50-48 on May 17 to require the Department of Labor to certify that there is not a U.S. worker “qualified and available” to fill a job offered to a foreign worker.
Allard: yes; Salazar: no
Salazar amendment
Voted 79-16 on May 16 for a Salazar amendment to allow a guest-worker program to begin after the president declares it “will strengthen the national security.”
Allard: no; Salazar: yes
Guest-worker cap
On a voice vote May 16, agreed to reduce the number of foreigners who could participate in the guest-worker program annually from at least 325,000 to no more than 200,000.
REJECTED
Citizenship path for nearly all
Voted 61-37 Tuesday against creating a pathway to U.S. citizenship for illegal immigrants who have arrived as recently as Jan. 1.
Allard: no; Salazar: yes
Citizenship block
Voted 66-33 on May 17 against removing provisions giving a chance at citizenship to illegal immigrants who have been in the country more than two years. (A yes vote is in favor of removing those provisions.)
Allard: yes; Salazar: no.