{"id":16868,"date":"2018-04-12T14:20:30","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T18:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=16868"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:36:21","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:36:21","slug":"e-verify-fights-life-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/04\/12\/e-verify-fights-life-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"E-Verify Fights For Life in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bidding to make Florida the largest state with a mandatory E-Verify law<\/a>, immigration-enforcement activists are close to putting the program up for a public vote.<\/p>\n

Frustrated with politicians whose campaign pledges evaporate in office, Floridians for Immigration Enforcement<\/a> and allied groups are on the verge of getting an employment-verification proposition on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

The state Constitution Revision Commission voted for the proposal 19-13 after two committees unanimously approved it. But 22 votes are needed by next week\u2019s deadline to make the ballot.<\/p>\n

Billionaire GOP contributor Michael Fernandez<\/a> and nearly 70 other business and political leaders are stepping up their fight to block the way. Money talks, and Fernandez is speaking loudly.<\/p>\n

Throwing in with the Immigration Partnership and Coalition<\/a> (IMPAC) Fund \u2013 and against legal workers in Florida — Fernandez & Co. blithely assert that \u201cE-Verify will destroy our state\u2019s economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

In truth, the big-money opposition to E-Verify is a rear-guard effort to perpetuate Florida\u2019s shadowy low-wage economy at the expense of legal workers. Though Gov. Rick Scott signed a 2008 executive order requiring E-Verify for state agencies and their contractors, Florida remains the only state in the Southeast without a comprehensive E-Verify program.<\/p>\n

The Naples Daily News<\/a>, in an investigation into \u201cFlorida\u2019s Disposable Workers,\u201d reported that employers across the state \u201ccontinue accepting false documents without checking them, even in industries with a high percentage of unauthorized workers or with a history of employees using fake identification. Some workers have accused employers of actually providing the false documents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fight over E-Verify comes down to a battle between powerful lobbyists and billionaires against working men and women whose voices and concerns have long been ignored at the Legislature, where Republican super majorities have killed 48 immigration-enforcement bills since 2008.<\/p>\n

Though a rising tide of illegal aliens costs the Sunshine State more than $6 billion<\/a> annually, Floridians cannot assume that the three additional votes needed for the E-Verify proposition are a lock. Nor can they count on all the earlier supporters holding firm.<\/p>\n

CRC Chairman Carlos Beruff ran for U.S. Senate against Marco Rubio on a mandatory E-Verify platform. Now on the commission, Beruff voted against E-Verify<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Florida politicians can make all the empty promises they need to get elected. They can even pass immigration laws that tinker around the margins. But until E-Verify becomes law, Florida\u2019s illegal job magnet will continue attract outlaw labor, and law-abiding workers will pay the price.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time the citizens of Florida had their say.