--- On Fri, 1/23/09, National Immigration Law Center <[email protected]> wrote:
From: National Immigration Law Center <[email protected]> Subject: E-Verify Requirement in Stimulus: Calls Needed Today To: [email protected] Date: Friday, January 23, 2009, 1:13 PM ACTION NEEDED: STIMULUS BILL INCLUDES REQUIREMENT TO USE BASIC PILOT/E-VERIFY PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE, EMAIL ALL RESPONSES TO [email protected]. Leave Harmful and Ineffective Anti-Immigrant Enforcement Measures Out of Economic Stimulus The House Appropriations Committee made a serious mistake when it approved an amendment to the stimulus bill (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) that would require all businesses and other public or private "entities" that contract to receive money from the stimulus package to use the flawed federal Basic Pilot/E-Verify program. This will not only delay use of stimulus funds, but will hurt millions of workers. It should be stripped from the bill. The amendment represents a massive expansion of the E-Verify program. As has been well documented, the E-Verify program is deeply flawed, inaccurate, and subject to substantial employer abuse. Bottom line - it is not ready for a massive expansion and definitely not in times of economic crisis. The E-Verify provision in the stimulus will: • Harm workers who are either falsely denied work or are targeted by employers abusing the E-verify program; • Create substantial new burdens for businesses, especially small businesses, at precisely the wrong time; • Send the wrong signal to new voters that the Congress prefers to play politics by enacting symbolic and ineffective immigration "enforcement" measures over serious and effective economic stimulus or serious immigration reform. ACTION NEEDED 1. Call Speaker Nancy Pelosi (head of Democratic Leadership) at 202-225-0100. 2. Call Chairman Obey (chair of the House Appropriations committee) at 202-225-3365. 3. Call Democrats who sit on the appropriations committee if you live in their state (see below). 4. Tell them: • You are extremely disappointed that the E-Verify requirement was included on the Stimulus and you want the provision stripped from the bill. • Including E-verify in the stimulus package completely undercuts the purpose of the bill and will only be counterproductive for American business, workers and the economy. • Real solutions to our economic problems and immigration reform should be approached seriously and separately. • The flawed E-Verify program's database errors will wrongly workers their jobs. FAIR (the Federation for American Immigration Reform) just sent out an alert to its very active network to call committee members in support of this provision. We need to counter their calls. DEMOCRATS Marion Berry (AR-1) 202-225-4076 Sanford D. Bishop (GA-2) 202-225-3631 Allen Boyd (FL-2) 202-225-5235 Albert Benjamin Chandler (KY-6) 202-225-4706 Lincoln Davis (TN-4) 202-225-6831 Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) 202-225-3661 Norman D. Dicks (WA-6) 202-225-5916 Chet Edwards (TX-17) 202-225-6105 Sam Farr (CA-17) 202-225-2861 Chaka Fattah (PA-2) 202-225-4001 Maurice D. Hinchey (NY-22) 202-225-6335 Michael M. Honda (CA-15) 202-225-2631 Steve Israel (NY-2) 202-225-3335 Jesse L. Jackson (IL-2) 202-225-0773 Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) 202-225-4146 Patrick J. Kennedy (RI-1) 202-225-4911 Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (MI-13) 202-225-2261 Barbara Lee (CA-9) 202-225-2661 Nita M. Lowey (NY-18) 202-225-6506 Betty McCollum (MN-4) 202-225-6631 Alan B. Mollohan (WV-1) 202-225-4172 James P. Moran (VA-8) 202-225-4376 John P. Murtha (PA-12) 202-225-2065 David R. Obey (WI-7) 202-225-3365 John W. Olver (MA-1) 202-225-5335 Ed Pastor (AZ-4) 202-225-4065 David E. Price (NC-4) 202-225-1784 Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23) 202-225-4511 Steven R. Rothman (NJ-9) 202-225-5061 Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) 202-225-1766 C.A. Ruppersberger (MD-2) 202-225-3061 Timothy J. Ryan (OH-17) 202-225-5261 John T. Salazar (CO-3) 202-225-4761 Adam B. Schiff (CA-29) 202-225-4176 Jose E. Serrano (NY-16) 202-225-4361 Peter J. Visclosky (IN-1) 202-225-2461 Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20) 202-225-7931 Background E-Verify is a voluntary internet-based program intended to allow employers to electronically verify the information that workers present to prove their employment eligibility by accessing information in databases maintained by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA). For more information on why the provision should be stripped from the economic stimulus bill, see Talking Points. Home | About NILC | Publications | Community Education Materials Immigrants & Employment | Immigrants & Public Benefits | Immigration Law & Policy Trainings | Links California Immigrant Policy Center --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Internet group address: http://groups.google.com/group/ChicagoMayDay To send e-mail: [email protected] To unsuscribe: [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
