Congress Pays Little Heed To Word From The People
When Americans demonstrated displeasure to Congress on a flawed immigration reform bill last year, one thing they made perfectly clear — they first want to see enforcement of laws already on the books.
There has been some progress made on meeting those demands, in the form of efforts to increase border security and stepped up enforcement of laws forbidding the hiring of illegal immigrants. Some observers contend positive developments have been far too slow.
President Bush has taken another step in the right direction by signing an executive order Monday requiring contractors and others who do business with the federal government to make sure their employees can legally work in the United States.
There have been cases where illegal workers have been discovered to be employed by contractors the federal government has hired, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Cheroff said in a news conference. The new executive order is part of an effort by the government to get its own house in order, he added.
Under the order, federal departments and agencies must require contractors to use an electronic system to verify the workers are eligible to work in the United States. The Web-based E-Verify system is operated by Homeland Security. It allows employers to check Social Security numbers provided by employees.
Hundreds of thousands of workers, at least, would be affected by the order, Cheroff indicated, with 1,000 employers a week reported to be signing up.
People who overstay visas or come to the country legally but do not have permission to work, such as some students or those awaiting work permits, could be caught by the new order although the primary target is the hiring of illegal immigrants.
The executive order declared it is the policy of the executive branch “to enforce fully the immigration laws of the United States, including the detection and removal of illegal aliens and the imposition of legal sanctions against employers that hire illegal aliens.”
If that kind of policy had been followed through the years the idea of adopting effective immigration reform wouldn’t seem such an impossible task.
A year ago this month the “comprehensive immigration reform bill” that would have provided amnesty for millions of illegal aliens was defeated only after the American people clearly registered their displeasure with the proposal. A flood of public outrage brought defeat of the plan in Congress.
While there are some signs of efforts to improve enforcement of immigration laws already on the books, Congress has made no progress on coming up with a more acceptable immigration reform bill and the issue appears to be stalled for this session. Presidential candidates of both parties supported the 2007 failed reform proposal.
Congress continues to try to move a legislative agenda that seems to many Americans to be out of step with the mainstream on almost every issue, including taxes, the economy, national defense strategy, immigration reform and all the rest.
People would do well to remember the actions and reactions that communicated their message on the 2007 immigration reform bill so clearly and start applying identical tactics to other key issues.
It is good to see long overdue serious federal efforts to crack down on hiring illegal immigrants, with the new executive order the most recent, even though that is only a small chip in the surface of a monster national problem.
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