E-Verify bill would bolster law and respect taxpayers

In the 2015 Oregon Legislature, Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, has introduced Senate Bill 104.

If approved, the bill will require that all state agencies use the federal E-Verify program to ensure their newly hired employees are U.S. citizens or legal residents. SB104 has been referred to the Senate Workforce Committee, which should report it to the chamber’s floor immediately.

E-Verify, run jointly by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration, is free to employers and easy to use. It enables an employer to go online, enter the name and Social Security number provided by a new hire and determine — in the vast majority of cases, almost instantly — whether that hire is eligible to work in the United States. In Oregon, 17 county governments and more than 3,200 businesses use E-Verify.

Why should Oregon’s elected leaders enact SB104 and mandate E-Verify’s use by state agencies?

First: SB104 would help ensure our state government complies with the federal law prohibiting employment of illegal immigrants. This would be no mere symbolism; respect for law begins with government itself. At a time when many state and local governments — and even the president of the United States — actively undermine federal immigration statutes, passing SB104 would help place Oregon firmly on the side of law, order and accountability.

Second: The bill’s adoption would tell Oregonians, “Your state government will strive to ensure your hard-earned tax dollars pay the salaries of U.S. citizens or legal residents, and not the salaries of people here illegally.” This would be a profound and welcome message to the Oregon taxpayers still drained by the recent recession.

And last: By going the extra mile, says Sen. Thatcher, to use “tools which offer a better chance of hiring people who are in our country legally,” the state of Oregon would “lead by example.”

Such leadership could have a far-reaching impact. Today, some 130,000 Oregonians are unemployed. Close to an equal number want full-time work but can find only part-time work, or have become so discouraged they’ve stopped looking for work altogether.

Yet, according to studies by the Pew Hispanic Center and Federation for American Immigration Reform, between 97,000 and 120,000 illegal immigrants recently have held jobs in our state. If SB104’s adoption were to induce a good number of private businesses to begin using E-Verify themselves, it could prove critical, in the future, to putting many unemployed and underemployed citizens into jobs currently held by illegal immigrants. As well, it may help to discourage further illegal immigration to Oregon and to prompt illegal immigrants already here to leave.

SB104 would manifest respect for law. It would help ensure responsible stewardship of Oregonians’ tax monies. And it would provide an example, if emulated by private businesses, that could re-employ many jobless citizens. Oregonians should tell members of the Senate Workforce Committee – and their own state legislators – to support SB104.

Cynthia Kendoll of Salem is president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform. She can be reached at ofir@oregonir.org.