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Runestad: E-Verify system protects Mich. workers
August 27, 2009
On Aug. 19, I testified before the Michigan House Judiciary Committee on behalf of House Bills 4355 and 4969. HB 4355 would require that state and local governments in Michigan use E-Verify in order to make sure that all new hires are eligible to work in the U.S. HB 4969 would extend that requirement to employment agencies that refer applicants for employment with the government.
E-Verify is a free software program that employers use to check whether or not an employee is legally authorized to work in the U.S. Information about eligibility status is already required from all employees on I-9 Forms. E-Verify simply takes that information and checks it against the Social Security database; a much more effective process.
E-Verify is fast, easy to use and extremely reliable. E-Verify protects American workers by making it difficult for employers to hire illegal aliens. And far from making employers the "immigration police," it takes the responsibility of having to make a judgment call about an employee's work status away from the employer and places it on the federal government where it belongs.
Predictably, those who profit at the expense of American workers by exploiting illegal alien labor have lined up against these bills. By arguing that E-Verify is not "fool-proof", some business owners are urging the Judiciary Committee to vote down these bills. There will always be people who break the law in order to gain an unfair advantage.
No law is "fool-proof," but that does not mean that we should simply abandon the effort to enforce them. It is true that E-Verify may cause an employee to have to update his or her information with the Social Security Administration, but is this "inconvenience" greater than the tragedy of employers passing over American workers to hire illegal aliens?
Having led the drive to pass an E-Verify resolution in Oakland County this past July, I am well aware of the lies opponents will resort to in order to protect their interests. They claim that employers and employees both will be hurt by the use of E-Verify. Here is the truth: E-Verify has received overwhelmingly positive reviews (96 percent to be exact) from the more than 140,000 employers who use it. Of the more than 7 million workers who have been run through the system, not a single one who was eligible to work in the U.S. has been denied employment because of an E-Verify error.
On the other hand, jobs that might have gone to illegal aliens have been filled by U.S. workers. That's a pretty good system, if you ask me.
With unemployment in the state at 15.2 percent, we must not waste this opportunity. Stand up to those who are operating against the interests of Michigan workers. Call your lawmakers and demand an end to the corruption.
E-Verify will go a long way toward ensuring that taxpayers in Michigan are not putting money in the pockets of criminal business owners who hire illegal workers. Is that too much to ask?
Additional Facts
Jim Runestad
is an Oakland County commissioner representing White Lake and Waterford.
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