From FEDERATION FOR AMERICAN IMMIGRATION REFORM
Dear Senator Reid:
Like all Americans, we sincerely hope that the $787 billion economic stimulus bill you shepherded through Congress results in millions of new jobs. We are disappointed, however, that you failed to provide the American people with the assurance that these jobs would go to legal U.S. residents.
The Senate bill contained no such protections for U.S. workers, because you prevented them from being added. It is especially discouraging to know that we could have had effective safeguards.
The House version of the Stimulus Bill reauthorized E-Verify—a highly effective system that allows employers to verify workers’ Social Security numbers. The House even went one step further. Its bill required all employers benefiting from taxpayer-funded stimulus money to use E-Verify to help ensure that the workers they hire are legally in the U.S. and authorized to work.
But when the House and Senate met to work out differences between the two versions, you made sure that the bill President Obama signed did not include E-Verify.
Mr. Majority Leader, we believe the American public is entitled to a thorough explanation. The 128,100 unemployed Nevadans—9.1% of the labor force— who desperately need jobs to support their families would like to know why you removed E-Verify from the Stimulus Bill, especially when their hard-earned money is paying for it. The voters of Nevada—who pay $630 million a year to provide basic services to illegal aliens—want to know why you persist in supporting illegal immigration when so many Nevada families are hurting.
It’s time to lead with real answers to America’s immigration crisis: not capitulation to special interests that seek political power and cheap, illegal labor while spreading out the costs to the American taxpayer.
Sincerely,
Dan Stein, President
