Free Republic

Basic Pilot is a federal program and database designed to help employers like Swift & Co. verify that workers can legally be employed by screening for bogus identification such as counterfeit Social Security numbers and fake green cards. But the program should be revamped or a new one created because it can't identify illegal immigrants who steal people's identities to secure U.S. jobs, immigration experts said Wednesday. Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary, urged Congress to take action. Chertoff on Wednesday noted that federal law bars the Social Security Administration from notifying the Department of Homeland Security if Social Security numbers...

The House of Representatives will have an opportunity this week to show the nation — and the White House — that it means to impose some order on the chaos that is our immigration system. That opportunity will come when the House debates Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner’s H.R. 4437, an immigration-enforcement bill approved last week by the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote. The bill is a good first step toward ending immigration anarchy, but it’s a first step only. The most important element of Sensenbrenner’s legislation would enroll all employers in the online system that verifies Social Security numbers of...

President Discusses Border Security and Immigration Reform in Arizona Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Tucson, Arizona 2:40 P.M. MST THE PRESIDENT: [SNIP the introductory part of the speech. Click the link above to read the introductions if desired.] I have a solemn duty, and so do the members of the United States Congress, to protect our nation, our Constitution, and our laws. Our border and immigration security officers devote themselves to those same missions every single day. America has always been a compassionate nation that values the newcomer and takes great pride in our immigrant heritage; yet we're also a nation...