These questions are culled from phone calls, letters, faxes and e-mails sent to Rep. Gallegly's Thousand Oaks, Solvang, and Washington offices. Each week Rep. Gallegly adds another question and answer. Please add your comments.
Week ending February 11, 2011
Question: What was the purpose of your hearing on E-Verify this week?
Answer: Our unemployment rate is unacceptably high. We owe it to American workers to do whatever we can to reduce the number of jobs going to illegal immigrants. The E-Verify program will help do that.
The hearing I led this week as chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, “Hearing on E-Verify – Preserving Jobs for American Workers,” explored how E-Verify could reserve jobs for citizens and legal residents.
E-Verify is a free, easy-to-use, electronic employment verification program that allows employers to ensure new workers are authorized to work in this country. It was developed after the 1995 Congressional Task Force on Immigration Reform, which I chaired, recommended the development of an electronic employment eligibility verification system. This recommendation was included in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (P.L. 104-208).
All an employer has to do is check the new worker’s name, birth date, and Social Security number or work authorization number against Social Security Administration and immigration records.
According to a recent study, the E-Verify system confirmed that 93.8 percent of workers screened are authorized to legally work in this country. The remaining 6.2 percent of people screened were not eligible. This allowed employers to replace these workers with U.S. citizens and legal immigrants.
E-Verify can certainly be improved. E-Verify cannot always flag illegal workers who have stolen the identity of legal workers. However, the solution is simple. Immigration officials should investigate whenever a particular Social Security number is being used repeatedly. For example, law enforcement officials should be notified if a Social Security number is being used in several different states around the same time.
For more information on my positions on illegal immigration, please visit my Illegal Immigration issues page.
For previous Questions of the Week chronologically and by topic, please see my Questions of the Week page.
Rep. Gallegly, how can the 112th congress attempt to reconcile the budget deficits without factoring in the cost of social welfare (money stipends, food stamps, medical, overcrowded schools,increased crime, additional police, fire and county and state burdens) that are a direct link to illegal alien migration without first making the decision to enforce our immigration laws. After we have deducted the cost of millions of illegal parasites then and only then can we begin to look at the deficits and how to resolve them. The answer is not to cut social security, medicaid, increase daily living expenses for legal citizens while spending money in large amounts for people who should not be here. For me this is the height of insanity. Please stay the course and put a stop to this destructive invasion. Republicans have a good shop at taking both houses if they play their cards right and enforce our immigration laws. Believe it or not Illegal immigration is the #1 issue for people in this country.
Rep. Gallegly,
Thank you for trying to save our jobs. Be sure to put strong enforcement capabilities in your legislation. Not only high fines, but some jump suite orange time for those who violate the law.
Sincerely,
Herbert J. Napora
Congressman Gallegly: I ask that you please do something substantial to curb and reverse this illegal immigration trend. Every day I see more and more Latino women pushing baby carriages through my neighborhood in Ventura. I have lived here for 47 years and have seen first -hand the demographic change in Ventura. As with the majority of Americans, I have no problem with legal immigration. Please help our Country, our State, and our County!