U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly
Serving the 24th District of California

http://www.house.gov/gallegly/media/media2008/media2008.htm

As printed in the Santa Barbara News-Press
April 27, 2008
Contact: Tom Pfeifer, (202) 225-5811

Federal foot-dragging on security

Three years ago, Wal-Mart agreed to pay an $11 million fine because its subcontractors had hired illegal immigrants to clean its stores. More than 250 illegal immigrants were arrested when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided stores throughout the United States. Note these were not Wal-Mart employees; they were employees of a contractor.

In the aftermath of the raid, Carol A. Entelisano of Tanner & Guin, LLC, wrote for the legal Web site FindLaw:

“ICE’s raid on Wal-Mart and pending legal action against other large employers in the country indicate the federal government is increasing its immigration law enforcement activities. Employers should no longer turn a blind eye to their contractor’s employment practices, and should make sure their own house is in order lest they be the next headline.”

It’s time for Congress to get its own house in order, lest they be the next headline. Or worse, before a terrorist takes advantage of federal foot-dragging.

Congress has thousands of contract employees working on Capitol Hill. Contract employees work at military bases and federal buildings across the United States. Those directly employed by the federal government must have their right to work in the United States checked through the E-Verify program, an instantaneous, Internet-based employment verification system.

Employees of companies with contracts to work at federal facilities, however, are allowed to be screened with the old system, which has been proven to be rife with abuse and fraud. Anyone with a fraudulent document can easily pass the old system.

That has left open some significant security loopholes. I do not support Wal-Mart turning a blind eye to its contractors. Nor do I wish to minimize the danger of a terrorist planting a bomb in a store. But if terrorists had their choice of a store, a federal building or a military installation, which might they choose?

Several states have recognized the importance of securing its work force.

Just recently, the Kansas House passed a bill requiring all employers—public and private—to use the E-Verify system by 2011.

The Missouri Senate took barely an hour of debate before it passed a bill to require state and local governments, along with government contractors, to use the E-Verify system. Passage was so much quicker than anticipated that it reportedly threw the legislative calendar out of whack.

In Rhode Island, Gov. Donald Carcieri signed an executive order requiring E-Verify for all new state employees and contractors doing business with the state.

They are way ahead of the federal government.

Last year, ICE arrested about 40 illegal immigrants working for businesses with contracts at U.S. military bases in Nevada, Georgia and Virginia. At least one of those arrested was a known gang member. That came on the heels of an earlier raid that netted 60 illegal immigrants working for contractors at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

If just one of those employees had been a terrorist, the consequences could have been dire.

In the past year, the House of Representatives has included language in several appropriations bills that would have required federal contractors to use the E-Verify system. The Democratic leadership stripped it from the bills in conference with the Senate.

This past October, I requested that the administration issue an executive order requiring the use of E-Verify by all government contractors. I’m still waiting for an answer.

Earlier this month, I introduced a bill requiring companies with contracts at the U.S. Capitol to screen their employees through E-Verify.

The Homeland Security Department has begun a rule-making process on mandating E-Verify for federal contractors, but it’s a lengthy process.

E-Verify is easy to use, it’s available and it could be quickly implemented. We don’t need more federal foot-dragging. We need action.

The author is a senior member of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.