Reforms Could Affect Everyone Seeking Jobs

It simply feeds my natural sense of paranoia when the stats on visitors to this page record that in the last 24 hours I've been visited by someone in the Air Force, the Dept. of Health and Human Services, and the Halliburton Corp. Fortunately, the Air Force reader read the post about Rumsfeld's poetry, the HHS reader came here searching for info on Dolly Parton and Porter Waggoner, and Mr. Halliburton was searching for "immigration reform craig estes". My page popped up there because the words "immigration" and a reference to Craig's List appeared in a post. (And I have no idea who "Craig Estes" may be.)

My mom warned me months ago I was nuts to use my real name on this blog, she says I have a knack for stepping on toes. Which I do - but she and my dad raised me to place a value on speaking the truth, which, doubtless has made me unwelcome in politics and business.

While I do attempt to find encouraging information as well as share information that should raise concerns among most Americans, some folks say I cast a gloomy shadow on the world. Yet, to me, recognizing a problem or issue is the first step to resolving it. I do hope and expect people to read this page, for whatever reasons, and I do try and temper my thoughts and writings with some pragmatism and hopes that information shared will result in opportunities for improvement. And yes, sometimes I'm just a smartass, though far less now than years ago. Honest.

And yes, at the risk of raising more corporate and government eyebrows, there is another point to this post, which is a crucial element and as I see it a powerful flaw in all the current federal legislation regarding immigration.

A fine piece of work at Reason magazine puts it plainly:

"Anyone convinced that America is suffering from excessive diversity should troll through the seven immigration bills now floating around the Capitol. Traversing the conceptual distance, roughly, between the minds of Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly, Congressmen on both side of the aisle are debating how high the walls should be, how onerous the fines, how long the wait to legality. Amid all this robust debate, one steadfast conviction unites the almost-distinguishable ravings of center-left and center-right: The need to keep closer watch on those radical patrons of social unrest, American business owners.

Pick your acronym—EEVS (Electronic Employer Verification System) in the Senate bill, the BEVP (Basic Employer Verification Program) in the widely condemned House version, NEECS (New Employment Eligibility Confirmation System) in the alternate McCain/Kennedy rendition. Each represents a federal database system that will bestow a yea or nay upon every would-be worker in the Land of the Free, whether she is surnamed Rogers or Rodriguez, born in Manassas or Mexico City. The system the ACLU calls "permission slip to work" requires verification from not one but two federal agencies; the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). If any of the prominent immigration measures pass as they are now written, every hiring decision will become a matter of public concern, subject to dual bureaucracies, two databases, and an untold number of deciders."
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"How does the government that brought you the prescription drug benefit debacle plan to manage an electronic system involving every employed person in these United States? The GAO needs a color-coded map to explain, but here is the basic summary: Employers send data for every new hire to DHS, which then sends information to SSA, which then sends information back to DHS, which sends info back to the employer, who can either contest any rejected applicants and begin the process anew, risk fines for not complying, or accept the findings. The burden of contesting mistakes and keeping records lies with employers. The cost, says the GAO, will be about $11.7 billion '—annually' with employers bearing much of the cost."