Democrats Changing Laws to Accommodate Government Incompetence (and Illegal Aliens)

As we all know, it is illegal to hire a person to work in the United States unless they are eligible to work here. Employment is limited to Americans Citizens and foreign nationals that either have Green Cards or a visa that includes the right to work.

There are a number of problems with keeping illegal aliens out of the US job pool. First, many are able to find work that is 'under the table' where they work for cash and tips with no reporting to the Government. Others, seek out work where they are required to document that they have the right to work in the US, and they use fake or stolen documents when applying for these jobs.

E-Verify is a US Government program set up to prevent those using fraudulent information and documents from gaining employment in the US.

E-Verify is an Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees.

E-Verify is free and voluntary and is the best means available for determining employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security Numbers. - USCIS

This has been a very effective program. However it has been seen by some as being too effective, since this system targets illegal aliens making it harder for them to find work.

Democrats, eager to win votes from immigrant communities, are trying to weaken this system, with the idea that illegal Aliens will vote for them when/if they manage to eventually become citizens. Take this recent Wall Street Journal article:

The no-match program is intended to make it harder for illegal immigrants to hold jobs gained by using fake Social Security numbers. Critics have said it could also unfairly target U.S. citizens who were the victims of bureaucratic bungling by the Social Security Administration or the Department of Homeland Security DHS. - WSJ

The 'no-match program' basically checks employee information against official records and goes back to the employer when the information appears wrong. For example, when a Social Security Number does not match the name of the person using it or is not a valid number. This gives the employer and employee a chance to fix it, if it is an honest mistake, or advises the employer that he may have hired a person who has provided fraudulent information. To be sure, the employer needs to clarify the issue with the employee. This system would also benefit Americans in that it would catch errors in their information early on, given them a chance to correct it, avoiding problems at tax time.

The game that the Democrats are playing here is to claim that Americans are suffering from this rule forcing investigation of possibly fraudulent data. They claim that some Americans risk losing their jobs because their information used by e-Verify is somehow screwed-up and that the Social Security Administration is too much of a mess to fix these problems. And as a result, we need to scrap a good enforcement procedure. (Note: The Social Security Administration is truly messed up, but not in this area. I think it is the worst branch of the Government, where a good ten percent of the employees should be fired as a first step in fixing the Organization.)

But I wonder. Why the hell has the President and Congress not jumped on the head of the Social Security Administration concerning this 'bureaucratic bungling'? Congress has no problem calling before them the heads of the major oil companies, banks, and automobile manufacturers and tries to push through all sorts of new legislation to force these industries to change. And yet, the head of the Social Security Administration, Michael astrue, a Government Employee, is not even quizzed about his Department's alleged bungling let alone grilled about it. You would think that they would be fighting over the chance to question him, especially given that he was appointed by Bush. But no, instead the Democrats in Control of Congress, along with President Obama, are trying to change the law to accommodate this alleged bungling. And you can bet that this 'fix' will benefit many more illegal aliens than Americans, if it benefits any Americans at all.

Instead, how about Congress finding out what is wrong at the Social Security Administration and fixing that instead. It is sure to fix many other problems as well. That would be the right thing. Unfortunately, that does not fit with the Democrat's agenda, so instead Americans will suffer so that illegal aliens can benefit. (See 'Senator Kennedy to illegals: "You are the Future of America"' for a good example of Democrats pandering to an interest group that is in the country illegally.)

P.S.

If Congress ever gets the guts to interrogate the head of the Social Security Administration, perhaps they can ask about this as well:

Last week the Social Security Administration flew approximately 700 of its managers from across the U.S. and Guam to Phoenix, Arizona’s posh Arizona Biltmore Hotel and Resort, for “organizational training.” The event, which included musical entertainment and dancing, skits, catered food, cocktails, and a “casino night” featuring “door prizes,” cost us lowly taxpayers approximately $750,000. - Townhall (Found via National Review's The Corner)

P.P.S

Once whatever kinks in E-Verify are worked out, how about using the E-Verify database as the country's voter database as well.

Surely it notes citizenship and surely, it will prevent people from being registered in multiple states. It will also put an end to the flood of fraudulent voter registrations that precede each election drowning election staff with a mountain of wasteful paperwork.

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