The New York Times’ Julia Preston reports that the Obama White House has advanced the Bush White House agenda of getting tough on undocumented immigrants: "The administration recently undertook audits of employee paperwork at hundreds of businesses, expanded a program to verify worker immigration status that has been widely criticized as flawed, bolstered a program of cooperation between federal and local law enforcement agencies, and rejected proposals for legally binding rules governing conditions in immigration detention centers."
Every administration priority here, except the last, is the enforcement of pre-existing laws. Immigration advocates sympathetically argue that these laws need to change, but the Dept. of Homeland Security is not exactly acting out of bounds. And on some scores the Obama version of law enforcement really is more sensible: e-verfiy and audits of employee paperwork is intended to track rogue employers, not sensationally round-up thousands of low-wage immigrants.
The final measure, though, makes no sense. The Washington Post’s Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein had a stunning expose last year on abuses at immigration detention centers. Preston’s piece doesn’t explain why the Obama administration rejects uniform standards. Stay tuned.-MB
Georgia Pabst of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had a critical — and flawed — piece Saturday on E-Verify, the joint Dept. of Homeland of Security/Social Security Administration program that makes employers check the citizenship status of their workers. Right now, E-Verify is voluntary — but new legislation would make it mandatory. Pabst implies this would be bad for Wisconsin dairy farmers, the vast majority of of whom employ illegal immigrants. But it could have the positive effect of curbing the exploitation of these workers. (more…)