Vote "No" on Senate Immigration Bill

The Senate has finalized its immigration reform bill and Senators will give it an up or down vote by Friday. They should reject it. Buried within the bill are provisions that would - for the first time in U.S. history - require Americans to get permission from federal bureaucrats before they can work. No society that requires its citizens to get permission from a government agency before they can work can call itself "free".

The Senate bill requires employers to check Social Security numbers and the immigration status of all new hires within 18 months after money is provided to the Homeland Security Department to expand the electronic system for screening workers.

Workers' information would have to be submitted to the electronic system within three days after the worker is hired. The Homeland Security Department would have to confirm the worker is legal or tell the employer the worker can't be immediately confirmed as a legal worker within 10 days.

The measure provides workers opportunities to contest the system's determination and to correct information that may be incorrectly flagging them as illegal workers. It also protects employers from liability if the screening system makes a mistake.

Additionally, judging by the debate over this bill, it is a bad, bad, bad idea to enact anything that puts millions of illegal immigrants into the "system". Sure they will be allowed to stay and work for now. But, anti-immigrant assholes could take power in the near future. And they will know where every immigrant in the country is living and working. Instead of "legalizing" illegal immigrants, we should decriminalize them. Reduce penalties for hiring illegal immigrants and stop wasting resources deporting them. That's far better than giving the federal government a roadmap to mass deportation and requiring Americans to get permission from bureaucrats to work. And it's certainly better than allowing the Homeland Security Department to develop a database containing information on every American.