[FreetheMarkets]

I think I can take a stab at that. Like a driver's license, a business license is a privilege not a right, so constitutionally it may be ok (con law is not my forte). It certainly does drive up transactions costs for the business but the illegal situation did call for some form of action, and our legislature acted. And its all employees not just new hires.

I don't have any employees at my office (we want a secretary, but this economy sucks for schysters too) so I have no frame of reference on actual compliance with that provision. My understanding is that accountants are the folks who are handling this for businesses.

[BenKenobi]

I have no problems with it as a voluntary tool. But private business is just that. If american businesses are forced to report all new hires to the federal government, how far are we from the point where they can step in and say no?

Can they strip your business license for hiring someone who is disliked by the administration?

Also, as for tackling the illegal immigrant problem, it reduces citizenship to a piece of paper. A paper which can be forged. I’ve dealt with E-Verify before, and one of the things it explicitly says is that it cannot catch identity theft. If someone were to steal your documentation, the system will not catch it.

I am not saying that they mean poorly, I just don’t agree with the way of solving the problem. I believe that the solution is worse than the disease.

[morphing libertarian]

No school enrollment.

No job.

No utilities.

No driver’s license or state ID.

No medical care or emergency room access. (Just enough to get them back across the border).

No social services.

No voting.

No enrollment in colleges or universities. Don’t even think about grants or in-state-tuition.