Creating jobs: for illegal immigrants?

There has been several criticisms of Obama’s jumbo spending bill, and the latest one to the pact is about employing everyone, including illegal immigrants. The version of the stimulus bill that Obama signed eliminates any requirement of employers to validate citizenship, some say. An article by USA today mentions the following:

“Studies by two conservative think tanks estimate immigrants in the United States illegally could take 300,000 construction jobs, or 15% of the 2 million jobs that new taxpayer-financed projects are predicted to create.

They fault Congress for failing to require that employers certify legal immigration status of workers before hiring by using a Department of Homeland Security program called E-Verify. The program allows employers to check the validity of Social Security numbers provided by new hires. It is available to employers on a voluntary basis.”

Given the credibility of USA today, I had to verify myself on this. So I headed over to http://readthestimulus.org to find the facts. As per the website-text and the PDF. Here are the facts:

Original Bill – House Democrats 1/23/09 [Page 15]

SEC. 1114. REQUIRED PARTICIPATION IN E-VERIFY PROGRAM.

None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to enter into a contract with an entity that does not participate in the E-verify program described in section 401(b) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1324a note). Subtitle B—Accountability in Recovery Act Spending

Final Bill – H.R. 1: Final Stimulus Version [Page 278]

SEC. 1853. VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR PROGRAM BENEFITS.

Section 239 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 U.S.C. 2311), as amended, is further amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘(k) VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY FOR PROGRAM BENEFITS.—

‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An agreement under this subchapter shall provide that the State shall periodically redetermine that a worker receiving benefits under this subchapter who is not a citizen or national of the United States remains in a satisfactory immigration status. Once satisfactory immigration status has been initially verified through the immigration status verification system described in section 1137(d) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b-7(d)) for purposes of establishing a worker’s eligibility for unemployment compensation, the State shall reverify the worker’s immigration status if the documentation provided during initial verification will expire during the period in which that worker is potentially eligible to receive benefits under this subchapter. The State shall conduct such redetermination in a timely manner, utilizing the immigration status verification system described in section 1137(d) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1320b-7(d)).

‘‘(2) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall establish procedures to ensure the uniform application by the States of the requirements of this subsection.’’.

Final Bill H.R.1 Page 278

So it appears that the claims have valid basis for some fear of leakage. However, if states did complete their own due-diligence, as required by the bill, the possibilities of illegal-immigrant employment will be minimal. After-all, the bill does hold states accountable for the funds received for any of the stimulus distributions.

On the other hand, with so many scandals coming up at state levels (NY, NJ, IL) in just past couple of years, it is no doubt concerning when the states get to regulate the spending of Federal funds. Furthermore, this does not establish a solid guideline that can be managed centrally, and each state, depending on the illegal-work-leakage, may be able to establish different policies of accepted level of verifications.