I’m an attorney and regularly work on illegal immigrant matters. While e-verify is good, it is also a double edged sword. Why? Because most illegals today use stolen SS numbers and I.D. Cards. This means they will pass the e-verify test. It also means that the employer will be in some serious trouble if they refuse to hire someone they suspect is illegal, but who passed e-verify. In a real way, e-verify helps illegals to gain and keep employment.
Fair enough. Where would you start?
The use of E-Verify should hold employers free from penalty if they inadvertently hire an illegal worker after following the prescribed procedures. It provides something of a "safe harbor."
In a real way, e-verify helps illegals to gain and keep employment
Using that convoluted logic, groups like La Raza and the Chamber of Commerce should be big supporters of E-Verify. The reality is that E-Verify works and acts as deterrence to illegal employment.
And here is another question: If e-verify (plus other efforts) actually prevented illegals from working at "on-the-books" jobs, wouldn't underground, off-the-books jobs appear to replace them? Remember, they are already illegal. What do they have to lose?
Like you, I am not saying that e-verify is a bad idea. It's a start. Congress needs to make it clear that illegals who participate in identity theft face prison time. But given the current attitude of the DOJ and DHS, I don't think that would be sufficient. Watch what happens in Alabama now. The feds will do everything they can to nullify and refuse to cooperate with the new e-verify law, while continuing to sit on their posteriors WRT federal immigration enforcement.