August 10, 2007 New Plan Steps Up Immigration Enforcement By William Branigin Washington Post Staff Writer The federal government today announced a new plan to crack down on illegal immigrants and their employers using existing laws, while also streamlining current guest worker programs. Under the plan, the government will step up interior enforcement of the nation's immigration laws and strengthen a program aimed at identifying illegal-immigrant workers who use false documents to gain employment. The effort involves bolstering an electronic system to verify eligibility for employment and increasing penalties for employers who deliberately hire illegal workers. "Obviously there are employers who deliberately violate the law, and we will come down on them like a ton of bricks," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said at a news conference to announce the new measures. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, appearing alongside Chertoff at the news conference, said the package of administrative reforms would "sharpen the tools we have" against illegal immigration while also helping employers who have legitimate needs for foreign workers. He said the government will overhaul regulations that implement existing guest worker programs for agricultural and other seasonal employees to make the programs more "workable." The administration will also study possible administrative changes to visa programs for highly skilled workers, he said. "These reforms represent steps my administration can take within the boundaries of existing law to better secure our borders, improve worksite enforcement, streamline existing temporary worker programs and help new immigrants assimilate into American society," President Bush said in a statement. "Although the Congress has not addressed our broken immigration system by passing comprehensive reform legislation, my administration will continue to take every possible step to build upon the progress already made in strengthening our borders, enforcing our worksite laws, keeping our economy well-supplied with vital workers and helping new Americans learn English." Chertoff denied that the promised crackdown was aimed at renewing pressure on Congress to pass a "comprehensive" immigration law that Bush has said should include a broad new guest worker program and a path to legalization for the 12 million illegal immigrants currently living in the United States. A bill containing such provisions twice went down to defeat in the Senate this year as opponents from the political right and left rallied against it. Many Republicans opposed it because they viewed it as granting amnesty to people who had violated the nation's immigration laws. "This is not an effort to punish Congress," Chertoff said today in response to a question. "This is an effort to execute the law and keep faith with the American public." In Kennebunkport, Maine, where Bush is vacationing this weekend, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the initiative represents a recognition that the president is unlikely to get his immigration bill and must do what he can under current law. Asked if the administration has given up on comprehensive immigration reform, Perino said, "I think that we have to be realistic about what this Congress is going to be willing to do. . . . And so I think the president, while he would like to have seen comprehensive immigration reform, does not believe that the Congress will be able to get that done." Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a leading proponent of the immigration bill that Bush had supported, denounced the new plan. "Sadly, the administration's proposal would make our immigration crisis worse," he said in a statement. He said it would "hurt millions of immigrant families who are contributing so much to our communities and our economy" and cause "even more confusion about who can be hired, resulting in the unjust firings of legal workers who look foreign and driving more hard-working people into the shadows." Chertoff said an existing computer program to check employment eligibility is being expanded and given a new name, E-Verify. But the program, currently used by about 19,000 employers across the country, will remain voluntary in the absence of a new law mandating its use. The immigration bill that died in the Senate in June would have made enrollment in the program mandatory for employers, Chertoff said. The program matches information from employees with more than 425 million records held in the Social Security database and 60 million records in the Homeland Security Department's immigration databases, Chertoff said. It allows employers to "quickly and reliably check the work status of their employees online," he said. As part of a plan to encourage greater use of the program, the Homeland Security Department today issued a regulation under which the Social Security Administration will send "no-match" letters to employers who have workers with inaccurate identity information, such as fake Social Security numbers. Employers will be held liable if they ignore "no-match" problems by failing to take corrective steps within 90 days, Chertoff said. Homeland Security will raise civil fines and expand criminal investigations against employers who knowingly hire large numbers of illegal immigrants, he said. To "lead by example," Chertoff said, his department is initiating a rule-making process to require new federal contractors and vendors to enroll in E-Verify. With more than 200,000 companies doing business with the federal government, this will significantly expand use of the program, the department said in a fact sheet. The final regulation on the no-match letters will take effect in 30 days, while the new regulation for federal contractors is expected to take "a few months" to go through the rule-making process, Chertoff said. He stressed that the new plan "provides a safe harbor" for employers who make a good-faith effort to ensure that their workers are legal and will not penalize them for such things as clerical errors. "We don't want to punish people who try to do the right thing," he said. Asked why the government has not used its existing authority before now to tighten immigration enforcement, Chertoff said the administration was waiting for Congress to pass a comprehensive bill that would have provided better tools. "These measures are imperfect," he said. "These tools are not the newest and best we could use." He called them "kind of half-measures" compared to what the defeated immigration bill contained. Now, however, "time has run out," Chertoff said. "Now we're going to go back to the old tools and sharpen them up as best we can." |