March 27, 2008
American immigration policy stands again at a critical juncture. Congress is now considering a controversial piece of legislation, the Save America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act. It should be rejected.
The SAVE Act would repeat the same ineffective strategies used in the past to battle illegal immigration by focusing on ill-advised enforcement-only measures.
This legislation, among other things, calls for more spending on imperfect border security; mandates the use of a flawed employer verification system; allocates additional taxpayer dollars to prosecute and remove needed workers; and reinforces a system that allows illegal activity to thrive.
By advocating such measures, the SAVE Act ignores the serious national security and humanitarian concerns that could have been addressed by the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which was felled by irresponsible politicization.
Over the last 20 years, the United States has repeatedly tried to control immigration through solutions directed almost entirely on penalties and deportation.
This approach has failed dramatically. Despite substantial increases in the number of border patrol agents and funding for enforcement, immigration experts estimate that millions of people have entered the U.S. without authorization over the last decade.
By enshrining such tactics, the SAVE Act ensures that valid concerns over security go unaddressed.
For years, unscrupulous American employers have offered undocumented workers wages well below the legal minimum, imposed unhealthy working conditions, and threatened workers’ livelihoods. While the majority of U.S. employers honorably handle their business affairs, those that take gross advantage of illegal labor must be held accountable.
The centerpiece of the SAVE Act is an employment verification system which, according to the Social Security Administration, is riddled with errors that could result in the loss of jobs for over 12 million U.S. citizens. These perfectly legal citizens, through no fault of their own, are not registered correctly in the system, and, according to the SAVE Act, would need to be terminated.
Instead of addressing design flaws in the verification system’s predecessor pilot program or revamping the faulty database, the system Congress is currently considering would further support an infrastructure incapable of handling millions of employer participants.
The SAVE Act does not hold employers accountable for their actions and undermines efforts to create a modern, accurate, and mandatory employer verification system that has a zero-tolerance policy for illegal behavior.
Particularly after the tragic events of Sept. 11, Americans have sought a panacea for the immigration and security challenges our nation faces.
The American Jewish Committee, and our coalition partners, have repeatedly turned to our elected officials to create a system that upholds the delicate balance required to maintain our pluralistic identity and our safety. We rely on them to take responsible steps to create effective solutions.
Rather than address those grave concerns, however, the SAVE Act would likely maintain the current status of our failing borders, increase suspicion and hateful rhetoric against immigrants, and cripple the U.S. economy by punishing legal workers for errors for which they are not responsible.
While expediency is crucial, Congress must not endorse legislation that compounds the dysfunction in our current system.
The SAVE Act endangers the development of a balanced solution to our nation’s immigration challenges. Signing it into law would be an unforgivable failure of American ingenuity.
Allyson M. Gall is the NJ executive director of the American Jewish Committee.
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