Florida Avoids E ‑Verify Mandate — for Now

Alex NowrastehGovernor DeSantis has been pushing Florida ’s legislature to enact an E‑Verify mandate for all new hires as a way to  “turn the spigot off the incentive that drives illegal immigration, ” as state Senator Joe Gruters said.So far, state legislators have resisted his efforts and watered down any potential bill that could pass —exempting some small businesses and agriculture. There was then a fierce debateover the exemptions and whether they should stand as the legislature has decided to pause briefly. The compromise bills are better than a mandate, but E ‑Verify should be rejected outright.E ‑Verify is a federal system that checks the identity documents of new hires, even Americans, against government data to guarantee that they are legally eligible to work. If they are illegal immigrants, the businesses have to fire the new hires. In theory, E ‑Verify is supposed to keep businesses from hiring illegal immigrants. In reality, it doesn’t work and, in the process, harms American workers.We know this because of what ’s happened in some states. E‑Verify is just a federal program that isn ’t required nationally, but some states like Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, and South Carolina mandated it for all new hires. Arizona was the first to do so in 2008.Rich Crandall, a Republican former state Senator from Mesa, Arizona, said that E ‑Verify “was promised as the silver bullet to immigration problems. E‑Verify...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs