{"id":17872,"date":"2018-11-15T14:58:49","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T19:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=17872"},"modified":"2018-12-28T09:30:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T14:30:17","slug":"do-your-job-congress-make-e-verify-mandatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/11\/15\/do-your-job-congress-make-e-verify-mandatory\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Your Job, Congress: Make E-Verify Mandatory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrats, Republicans and independents seeking a unifying issue across America\u2019s fractured electoral landscape need look no further than E-Verify<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The federal government\u2019s online system that screens job applicants\u2019 eligibility to legally work in this country enjoys overwhelming support with voters.<\/p>\n

Respondents to a post-election poll<\/a> showed 73.6 percent favor mandatory use of E-Verify. Just 8.6 percent oppose it.<\/p>\n

Support for E-Verify cuts across all party and ethnic\/racial lines. It is backed by 54.6 backed of Democrats, 90.5 percent of Republicans and 78.4 percent of independents. It is supported by 80.2 percent of white voters, 58.4 percent of Hispanic voters, 52.7 percent of black voters and 73.8 percent of Asian voters.<\/p>\n

That level of consensus is hard to find anywhere, on anything. Heck, there\u2019s more division on whether professional athletes should stand for the National Anthem.<\/p>\n

The national exit poll, conducted by Zogby Analytics on behalf of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, exposes the dysfunctional disconnect between the public\u2019s commonsense wishes and the (in)action of their elected representatives in Washington.<\/p>\n

Twenty states<\/a> require all or nearly all private-sector employers to use E-Verify. As of Dec. 31, 2017, 2.4 million hiring sites were enrolled in the program. Deep blue California had the most sites: 216,850.<\/p>\n

Yet Congress — beholden to special interests that prey on cheap, illegal labor — remains gridlocked.<\/p>\n

FAIR President Dan Stein calls mandatory E-Verify \u201clow-hanging fruit\u201d for President Donald Trump in the coming two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2018 elections were clearly not a repudiation of the president\u2019s stances on immigration policy and enforcement. To the contrary, these policies enjoy broad support and likely helped minimize his party\u2019s losses in the midterms,\u201d Stein said.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Zogby survey found 88.3 percent of voters — including 82.8 percent of Democrats and 85.7 percent of independents — believe illegal immigration is \u201ca problem\u201d or a \u201cserious problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

E-Verify goes to the root of the problem in the workplace. As long as U.S. employers are free to hire illegal aliens, the job magnet will keep attracting border-busting migrants, and Americans\u2019 paychecks will continue to be undercut.<\/p>\n

For wages to go up, illegal immigration must go down. Americans know that; it\u2019s high time politicians in Washington started working for their constituents and the national interest by making E-Verify the law of the land.