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(St. Joseph) U.S. Congressman Sam Graves visited St. Joseph on Tuesday to talk about his support for a bill meant to make it tougher for illegal immigrants get into the country and get a job. The Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act is bi-partisan legislation with 143 cosponsors - 48 Democrats and 93 Republicans.
“This act would be a giant leap forward in Washington’s approach to illegal immigration,” said Graves. “This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, it’s a security issue. Members on both sides need to put partisanship aside and pass this common sense legislation.”
The SAVE Act would tackle the illegal immigration problem in three areas. It would increase the number of border patrol agents by 8,000 and secure the border with new infrastructure and technology. Congress passed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 that authorized 700 miles of fence along the southern border.
“There is any question that the first thing we need to do on illegal immigration is secure the border,” said Graves. “Where a fence has been built it has had a dramatic effect because it creates bottlenecks and gives our agents an actual border to be patrolled.”
The SAVE Act also makes the E-Verify system mandatory for employers. E-Verifyprovidesemployerswithaninexpensive,quick,andaccurateway toverifyemployee eligibility. It would close the existing loopholes in E-Verify todetectmultiplepeople using thesamesocial security numberand todetectpeople using stolen identities. It would also require information sharing between the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service.
“We need to give employers the tools they need to know for sure whether they are hiring someone who is legally able to work in this country,” said Graves. “Too many employers want to do the right thing, but do not have the tools.”
The final provision would increase the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents (ICE) and give local and state officials more training. It also would increase the number of Federal District judges to expedite the removal of illegal immigrants.
“We need to have the detention facilities and judges in place so that we can remove illegals quickly,” said Graves. “Giving them a court date and expecting them to show up, just doesn’t work.”
H.R. 4088 needs 218 members to sign a discharge petition to bring it to the floor. As of March 12th, 163 members had signed the petition, including 6 Democrats.
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