House Bill 36, Employers/Government Contractors Must Use E-Verify, continues to find an identity of its own after facing three revisions in recent days. The bill is on the House calendar for consideration today.
If passed, the new law would require anyone contracting or subcontracting with a state agency to use the federal E-Verify Program to check the U.S. citizenship status of newly hired employees. Supporters say the bill simply extends now used by state agencies and school districts.
The bill also has detractors from two sides: minority advocacy groups who say the bill discriminates against Hispanics, and immigration restrictionists who believe it does not go far enough.
Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, brought the bill before the House in an attempt to stop legal U.S. residents from losing contracting jobs to illegal aliens.
“House Bill 36, dare I say, is a civil bill,” he said. “It’s something the state already does. The public university does it and the public school system already does it. We are extending it to municipalities, counties that contract and do business with the state.”
But Pablo Escobar, a director of the Raleigh-based El Pueblo, Inc., a nonprofit advocacy agency dedicated to working with the Hispanic community, said H.B. 36 is bad bill on many levels.
“(E-Verify) is not a good, reliable system,” he said. “It has a 40 percent failure rate that is riddled with false negatives and false positives. It is not foolproof. That’s the biggest objection we have to it.”
Escobar said immigration is a complicated issue and the HB 36 turns ordinary people into immigration officials.
He said it is also taking on the role of something that should be handled by the federal government.
“It’s not the business of the state,” Escobar said. “The federal government should protect the borders of the U.S. It has to be done fairly, uniformly and by the feds.”
Ira Mehlman, the national media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) in Washington D.C. said the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that states are allowed to enact laws such as H.B. 36.
“It’s an established case of law,” he said. “It’s a perfectly legit function of the state. It is certainly a critical step in deterring illegal immigration.”
Mehlman said contrary to Escobar’s allegations, the E-Verify Program is an effective system with a 99 percent success rate. He said the program is not biased because it is used only after an employer decides to hire someone.
“It’s a non-discriminatory process,” he said. “It’s like using a credit card — they run a check on everyone.”
James Johnson, president of the North Carolinians for Immigration Reform and Enforcement said the potential new law doesn’t go far enough because businesses with 24 or fewer employees are exempt under H.B. 36.
“We certainly would like it to include all businesses,” Johnson said. “In our opinion, 24 or less people is an issue to us. That will provide a loophole for a lot of stores and restaurants to slip through.”
Johnson said the state needs to take on the issue because the federal government has failed to protect its citizens.
“This current administration isn’t going to do anything on the immigration issue,” he said. “We have to work from the bottom up on this one.”
Escobar said even though he disagrees with the state’s stance, state officials should be angry with the federal government for not taking care of enforcement concerns.
“They need to take it out on the federal government instead of trying to pass punitive laws,” he said. “Right now they are trying to hurt the immigrant or vilify the immigrant. This bill is meant to punish them and hurt them.”
The House session is scheduled to convene at 2:00 this afternoon.
Karen Welsh is a contributor to Carolina Journal.