Oh yes she is wrong. Newt wants an explicit biometric system to verify. Newt wants a tamper proof verification system and it is doable and right.
The solution to this problem is a well-regulated, robust guest worker program.
There is no possibility that the federal government could run such a program without massive fraud and counterfeiting. On the other hand, American Express’s rate of fraud is less than one tenth of one percent.
We can build on the universal system of biometric, tamper-proof visa documents that all visitors must have, and invite a private-sector firm with a proven track record to monitor the guest worker program.
For guest workers, the new tamper-proof, biometric cards will replace the e-verify system, which has some promising elements, but is too error-prone. Employers will be able to swipe prospective employees biometric cards, and immediately be able to confirm that these workers are in the country legally.
Once a legal guest worker system has been built with real-time, 24/7 verification, there will be no excuse for employers hiring people illegally. At that point the economic penalty on illegal employers should go up substantially.
The new guest worker program should be designed using the proven principles oand it should be easy, convenient, inexpensive and practical for both workers and employers.
The latest data show 22.1 million immigrants holding jobs in the U.S. with an estimated 8 million being illegal aliens. By increasing the supply of labor between 1980 and 2000, immigration reduced the average annual earnings of native-born men by an estimated $1,700 or roughly 4 percent. Among natives without a high school education, who roughly correspond to the poorest tenth of the workforce, the estimated impact was even larger, reducing their wages by 7.4 percent. The reduction in earnings occurs regardless of whether the immigrants are legal or illegal, permanent or temporary. It is the presence of additional workers that reduces wages, not their legal status.
The Bureau of Labor statistics for November 2011 show a national unemployment rate of 8.6 percent, including 15.5 percent for blacks and 11.4 percent for Hispanics. 25 million Americans are seeking full-time employment.
Despite the economic downturn, the U.S. continues to bring in 125,000 new, legal foreign workers a month. This includes new permanent residents (Green Cards) and long-term temporary visas and others who are authorized to take a job. This makes no sense.
The idea that American Express could run a guest worker program is lunacy. There are national security issues involved. Who does the background checks? Where would the guest workers be processed? Who would do the interviews?
For guest workers, the new tamper-proof, biometric cards will replace the e-verify system, which has some promising elements, but is too error-prone. Employers will be able to swipe prospective employees biometric cards, and immediately be able to confirm that these workers are in the country legally.
First, there is more to control than whether someone is here legally to work. Any real guest worker program requires sponsorship from an employer and limitations on where they can work and for how long. We know from worldwide experience that guest workers don't go home without some very draconian controls like they have in Saudi Arabia and Singapore.
What happens when these guest workers want to get married to American citizens or have children here? Will the guest workers be able to bring their wives and children? When, where, and how will the biometric guest worker cards be issued? Will there be limits as to the number of these cards issued annually?
What happens to the 12 to 20 million illegal aliens already here? Will they be allowed to stay and get guest worker cards, especially the 8 million who hold jobs? Will they be able to bring their families? What's to stop employers from hiring illegal aliens, just like they are doing now? There are already penalities under existing law. How substantial would you make the penalties?
Do you know how e-verify works? What errors are you referring to re e-verify?
Do we really need more guest worker programs beyond the many we already have? Will employers be required to pay minimum wage and adhere to all US employment laws? How will the guest worker program affect legal immigration? How will they affect the employment and wages of American citizens and legal permanent residents?
The U.S. adds one international migrant (net) every 36 seconds. Immigrants account for one in 8 U.S. residents, the highest level in more than 90 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13. In a decade, it will be one in 7, the highest it has been in our history. And by 2050, one in 5 residents of the U.S. will be foreign-born.
Currently, 1.6 million legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year; 350,000 immigrants leave each year, resulting in a net immigration of 1.25 million. Since 1970, the U.S. population has increased from 203 million to 310 million, i.e., over 100 million. In the next 40 years, the population will increase by 130 million to 440 million. Three-quarters of the increase in our population since 1970 and the projected increase will be the result of immigration. The U.S., the world’s third most populous nation, has the highest annual rate of population growth of any developed country in the world, i.e., 0.977 percent (2010 estimate), principally due to immigration.
We have 50 million visitors every year. 40% of the illegal aliens came here legally and overstayed their visas. We have never fully implemented the US-VISIT program to track and deport visa overstays. We can't even administer and enforce our existing immigration laws yet we seem to believe that we can have biometric work visa cards run by American Express. The question is who will oversee and enforce these guest worker programs,e.g., check places of business, determine where the workers are, deport violators, etc.?
As your own post demonstrates, Gingrich does NOT support e-verify, which is exactly what Ann said.
The fact that, according to you, Gingrich supports some other system that hasn't been put in place yet, is part of the point.
Moreover, while many groups are calling for adding a biometric component to the e-verify system, and even eventual replacement with a complete biometric system, the fact is that in the meantime e-verify is very important. The fact that Romney and Bachmann support the present system, which does include some biometric components, does not mean they don't support improving it.
Are you aware of Newt's strong efforts to completely kill e-verify, and that Newt is the reason that e-verify has been VOLUNTARY all these years? Does that tell you anything?
From HERE:
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION WOULD NOT BE A TOPIC IN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES IF SPEAKER GINGRICH IN 1996 HAD TAKEN DIFFERENT IMMIGRATION POSITIONS
The political stars were in alignment in 1995-96 when the bi-partisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform (appointed by the Senate and the House, and chaired by Barbara Jordan) issued its recommendations to protect vulnerable American workers. The immigration subcommittees of both House and Senate quickly presented legislation to carry out the recommendations to cut legal immigration in half and to stop illegal immigration, primarily by removing the jobs magnet.
As Speaker of the House, Gingrich was in the pivotal position to help Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Smith push through the 1996 comprehensive bill that set up the verification program that eventually was named "E-Verify."
The Commission had found that illegal immigration was booming in the 10 years since the 1986 blanket amnesty because illegal aliens had found it was still easy to obtain and keep U.S. jobs.
What did Speaker Gingrich do?
Those of us involved in that fight know that we were constantly and desperately seeking support from Gingrich which didn't come.
Instead, Gingrich tried to kill the new job verification system entirely. Fortunately, the killer amendment he supported failed. No thanks to Gingrich, we have an E-Verify system today.
But the E-Verify system is entirely VOLUNTARY today because of another House vote which Gingrich won. That vote was to make sure that the verification system would NOT be MANDATORY for employers.
The nation's Big Business lobbies deemed it essential that employers maintain the ability to cheat the paper verification system and hire illegal workers. Speaker Gingrich saw to it that the ability continued.
I am heartsick every time I think of that lost opportunity in 1996. If Speaker Gingrich had thrown his considerable talents and power behind the bi-partisan recommendations and supported Lamar Smith, most of the illegal aliens who arrived since then would not have bothered. And most of the illegal aliens who arrived before 1996 -- with less than 10 years of roots in this country -- would have gone back home.
Illegal immigration would not be topic of the 2012 Presidential debates.