Commission Should Protect Gwinnett`s Legal Workers
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Georgia has one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in the nation, according to recent studies. The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that a majority of the state’s one million immigrants are here illegally. The number of immigrant households that rely on at least one major welfare program is nearly double that of native households, at 33%.
Illegal immigration costs cities, counties and the state government an estimated $1.6 billion annually. Georgia spends that amount each year to provide three basic services to illegal aliens and their dependents — K-12 education, public health care, and incarceration of criminals. These costs amount to a $523-a-year burden for every Georgia household headed by a native-born American.
County leaders know too well how much illegal immigration can cost the taxpayers of Gwinnett. Last year, the County Commission committed millions to the 287(g) program. You could ask the school system how much it spends annually to serve the children of illegal aliens; or ask the hospital how much it spends to provide free healthcare.
The provision of public services to illegal immigrants constitutes a significant drain on public resources; and when I say “resources,” you know that I mean the taxpayer.
For many years, federal law has given local government the authority, through regulation, to lessen the impact of illegal immigration on its communities, but it took the “Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act,” passed in 2007, to mandate that cities and counties ensure that most public benefits are available only to legal residents.
Compliance with the new law was slow in coming. It took 15 months for Gwinnett County to take its first faltering steps toward enforcement. Even today, most Gwinnett cities have yet to comply with major provisions of the law.
Chairman Charles Bannister has claimed to be committed to aggressive enforcement. However, he has failed to take advantage of all of the resources and authority available to him. In today’s economic climate when so many legal Gwinnett residents have lost their jobs, it is unconscionable and inexcusable that Bannister would not take aggressive and immediate steps to minimize the financial impact on our county.
Effective, local immigration enforcement isn’t difficult nor costly. The implementation of a simple requirement to receive or renew a business license would be the most effective action that the Commission could take to reduce the number of illegal aliens in the county.
Illegal aliens come to Gwinnett County primarily for employment. But if there were no jobs for illegal aliens, there would be no arrests and no reason for the costly 287(g) program. There would be no children of illegal immigrants in our schools, and the resulting costs. There would be no illegal immigrants seeking attention for minor health needs in our county’s emergency rooms.
The County Commission should immediately require that applicants for a business license or renewal of same certify that they have enrolled in the federal E-Verify program for the verification of their employee’s work eligibility. Once enrolled in the program, employers are required to verify all of their new hires through the program and there are stiff federal penalties for employing an illegal worker.
The cost to the county would be negligible. Licenses would be denied to employers who did not participate in E-Verify and could be revoked for employers who were found to have abandoned their verification program. Enforcement of the employer’s agreement to participate in the free E-Verify program is handled by the federal government.
A growing number of local and state governments across the nation have adopted this requirement. The state of Arizona, which has a state business license, now requires employers to enroll in E-Verify. The Arizona law was tested in court at several levels and has survived the challenges. Evidence shows that the law had an immediate and continuing impact on the number of illegal aliens residing in that state, while adding minimal additional burden on the employer.
Last week, the federal government began requiring all federal contractors and sub-contractors to verify not only their new hires and employees working on the federal contract but, optionally, their entire workforce.
By simply requiring Gwinnett employers to verify the employment eligibility of their new hires, the Commission can eliminate the attraction for illegal aliens, preserving jobs for legal workers and reducing the cost of government.
Now that E-Verify is becoming a nationwide verification application to extract 20 million plus illegal immigrants from businesses. It is now growing in aggressive performance for placing true US workers in the job line and outing illegal labor. This operation should now extend to certainly more purposeful uses? That means not just federal contractors but everybody who draws a pay check? Should a health care reform pass all obstacles in the House and Senate chambers, it could have an invaluable function of checking people who are not only applicants for jobs, but health care reform registry. Illegal immigrants are already getting free emergency hospital care and–WE–pay for it. In the future it should be considered to vet a person’s nationality status, when applying for a mortgage? The United States banking system, financial institution were all but swept away on a deluge of corruption that has very sinister undertones in an organization called ACORN.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform now is under state and federal investigations at this very moment. Other involved institution impacted both Freddie Mac/Freddie Mae and a scheme incorporating underhand minority lending practices. But you might not have heard any of this, from the liberal media about the massive illegal alien mortgage accusations. The whole debacle was the involvement in a corrupt enabling banking industry and ethnic lobbyists, using unethical methods, along with Bush administration to guarantee loans for low income and people that could not possibly afford mortgages. Didn’t Wall Street, the government regulators learn anything from the Savings and loan crisis in the 1980’s?
GOOGLE—Michelle Malkin, she has her own blog and also Google illegal immigrants—mortgages—home loans. Find out about the shady deals which had a massive impact on the 2009 real estate crash. In Addition read how we as citizens and legal residents can demand permanent E-VERIFY. Tell the politicians in Washington at 202-224-3121 It’s about time they worked for the USworking man/woman, instead of paying-off favors to the wealthy business lobbyists? NUMBERSUSA & JUDICIAL WATCH has more answers about corrupt lawmakers and the issues that effects us all. HELP AMERICA SURVIVE. BETTER START COUNTING YOUR PENNIES, BECAUSE IF THE DEM’S PASS ANOTHER AMNESTY–WILL HAVE MILLIONS OF MORE DESTITUTE ILLEGAL ALIENS AND FAMILIES TO SUPPORT!. THE BUSINESSES THAT HIRE THEM WILL NOT! If the Democratic leadership forces through a path to citizenship or blanket AMNESTY–the US will also have irreversible OVERPOPULATION guaranteed and massive hikes in taxes to support illegal alien families.
[...] If you live in Gwinnett County, GA, check this out. [...]
If you contacted the Commission on this topic, you may have received a response that the county already does what I claim it does not. Let me clarify:
The Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (GSICA) requires all Georgia political entities to verify the eligibility of applicants for certain “public benefits.” Those benefits include a business license.
Gwinnett County does require all new applicants for a business license to certify, under oath, that he/she is eligible to receive the benefit. If the applicant is a non-citizen, the county apparently takes the required added step of verifying the applicant’s eligibility through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system.
In addition, the county recently sent a request for certification to the approximately 26,000 current business license holders. The applicant apparently must return the certification prior to renewing for 2010.
I have a disagreement with the county’s strict interpretation of the law but the county is complying with the letter of the law, nonetheless.
The problem with the county’s effort is that it doesn’t go far enough! While the GSICA requires verification of business license applicants, it does not require that the work eligibility of EMPLOYEES of Gwinnett businesses be verified. That is where E-Verify comes in.
E-Verify is a free federal program through which employers can verify the work eligibility of their new hires. The program has a very high accuracy rate and takes only seconds to utilize. Employers can even retain a third party, a Designated Agent, to verify new workers for them, almost completely eliminating additional workload associated with verification.
E-Verify is in use by employers from across the nation and even by some of Gwinnett’s biggest companies including E.R. Snell, Inc. A growing number of cities, counties and states are requiring employers to enroll in E-Verify as a prerequisite for receiving or renewing a business license. The Arizona law has survived numerous legal challenges and is the model for state-level verification.
To summarize, Gwinnett County appears to meet the requirements of state law, but Gwinnett’s legal residents want more. By requiring businesses to enroll in E-Verify, Gwinnett County can take a substantial and effective step toward ensuring that Gwinnett jobs go to qualified workers.