Brooks, Grassley Introduce Mandatory E-Verify Bill to Crack Down on Employers Who Profit from Illegal Immigration

Statement

Wednesday, Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) introduced House companion legislation to Senator Chuck Grassley's (R-IA) bill, the "Accountability Through Electronic Verification Act." The bill would permanently reauthorize the E-Verify program and make its use mandatory. Highly influential immigration policy reform groups, NumbersUSA and the Federation for American Immigration Reform, support the bill.

Original House cosponsors: Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01), Congressman Matt Gaetz (FL-01), Congressman Bob Gibbs (OH-07), Congressman Ted Budd (NC-13), Congressman Steve King (IA-04), Congressman Brian Babin (TX-36), Congressman Scott DesJarlais (TN-04), Congressman Jeff Duncan (SC-03), Congressman Duncan Hunter (CA-50), Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (NE-01), Congressman Rick Crawford (AR-01), Congressman Andy Harris (MD-01), Congressman Louie Gohmert (TX-01), Congressman Ralph Norman (SC-05), Congressman Bill Posey (FL-08), and Congressman Paul Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04).

Congressman Brooks said, "American jobs entice illegal aliens to break our laws and come to America. Mandatory e-verify coupled with harsh penalties cuts off illegal aliens from American jobs. The result? Higher pay and more jobs for Americans. An added bonus is that illegal aliens who can't get jobs will self-deport at no cost to taxpayers. That is a great deal for all Americans! I look forward to working with Senator Grassley to advance this crucial America First legislation."

Senator Grassley said, "Businesses across the country have opted to use the E-Verify system to help them comply with our immigration laws. E-Verify is a proven tool for employers, including myself, that helps reduce incentives for illegal immigration and safeguards job opportunities for Americans and other legal workers. Expanding the system to every workplace will improve accountability for all businesses and take an important step toward putting American workers first."

Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), said, "Mandating universal participation in the E-Verify program is an important safeguard for American workers who continue to lose jobs and wages to illegal aliens. The free, electronically-based system allows employers to authenticate the legal work eligibility of prospective applicants-- the same way a merchant verifies a credit card purchase-- with a 99.7 percent accuracy rate. FAIR commends Congressman Mo Brooks for leading on this critical issue, and encourages Congress to honor its commitment to American workers by passing this legislation as soon as possible."

Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, said, "On behalf of the more than 9 million grassroots activists in the NumbersUSA network, I applaud Congressman Brooks for introducing legislation to mandate E-Verify. That is the most important--and also the least expensive--measure that can be taken to stem illegal immigration and to ensure that U.S. jobs are filled only by America's legal workers. All other actions to stop illegal immigration will continue to have limited effect as long as the jobs magnet remains. Passage of this bill will also be a gift to the law-abiding employers of America who would no longer have to compete with employers using illegal labor."

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