Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to Senator Sessions' amendment to the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. The Sessions amendment would make E-Verify permanent and would immediately mandate all Federal contractors and subcontractors to use E-Verify.
First of all, obviously, legislating on and delaying a critical appropriations bill, which is necessary for us to pass quickly to secure our borders, ports of entry, and our interior points of vulnerability, is a delay we do not need. But, secondly, and more importantly, despite claims that this amendment only seeks to reauthorize E-Verify for 3 years, which I do not oppose, the actual language of the amendment of my distinguished colleague would make E-Verify permanent and mandatory.
There would be nothing wrong with that if the system actually worked, but it does not. The distinguished Senator from Alabama and I agree upon one of the main seven principles for immigration reform which I issued 2 weeks ago;
namely, that an employer verification system with tough enforcement and auditing is necessary to significantly diminish the job magnet that attracts illegal aliens to the United States. The bottom line is that they mainly come for jobs, and until they are tough on employers, wave after wave is not going to stop.
As we speak, even under the E-Verify system, any individual who steals a Social Security number--and that is easy these days--and has access to a credible fake ID can get a job in the United States. What is more, nothing about E-Verify stops a U.S. citizen from ``loaning their identity'' to their friends and family to get a job. In either of these cases--an illegal immigrant stealing a Social Security number and getting a fake ID done or some citizen, an employer or whatever, giving a Social Security card to the person--it doesn't do the job because that illegal immigrant can enter into the system. Once they are in the system, they stay in it, never to be removed. So E-Verify, frankly--and I know many in the immigrant community object to it because it only affects immigrants. But there is also another objection, and that is that it is just not tough enough, it is not strong enough. If we are going to make a system permanent, it really ought to work. [Page: S7169]
The current E-Verify system creates havoc for both employers and employees. No one has any certainty. Employers who accept all credible documents in good faith are not guaranteed they will never be targeted by ICE for turning a blind eye toward illegal immigrants in their workplace, and employers who question suspicious documents face potential lawsuits from U.S. citizen employees who can claim they were wrongly profiled as illegal immigrants.
There is only one way to really get a system that will stop illegal immigration and stop employers from hiring, and that is by creating a biometric-based Federal employment verification system that will give both employers and employees the peace of mind that employment relationships are both lawful and proper. It will also give the American people the same peace of mind. This system will be our most important asset in dramatically reducing the number of illegal aliens who are able to live and work in the United States.
There are many proposals for practical and effective biometric-based employment verification systems, and the immigration subcommittee, which I chair, will be vetting each proposal during our upcoming hearing on July 22. The distinguished Senator from Alabama, my friend, is a member of the immigration subcommittee. I invite him to engage in this critical process for our country during the hearing and ask all of the questions he would like to the distinguished panel of expert witnesses who will be appearing. We are not seeking to delay. I am eager to enact comprehensive reform with a strong, tough employer verification system.
An amendment making the flawed E-Verify system permanent and mandatory will only create more problems than it solves. Once we go down the road of making this flawed system permanent and mandatory, without fixing what is wrong with the program, we will waste substantial amounts of taxpayer money and we will make life more difficult, rather than simpler, for employers who wish to do the right thing, and for employees.
The time is coming for comprehensive immigration reform. The legislation will create the best employment verification system possible that will be a product of deliberation and consensus and will be informed by the world's foremost experts on this issue. It will be tougher, tighter, and more effective than E-Verify. I believe we can get that done this year.
Let's not do something hasty and counterproductive just to say we are doing something, and, just as important, let's not do it as an amendment to an appropriations bill. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment, and let's get to work on crafting an employer verification system that really works, prevents identity fraud, and actually curtails the illegal immigration job magnet.
I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
