11:00 am May 26, 2011, by jgalloway
The U.S. Supreme Court has apparently upheld the right of the state of Arizona to require businesses to use the federal E-Verify system to ascertain that new hires are legal U.S. residents.
Read the opinion here – courtesy of SCOTUSblog.
The challenge was brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and obviously has tremendous implications for Georgia – which adopted a similar requirement this spring.
From the opinion, written by Chief Justice John Roberts:
Arizona’s use of E-Verify does not conflict with the federal scheme. The Arizona law requires that “every employer, after hiring an employee, shall verify the employment eligibility of the employee” through E-Verify….That requirement is entirely consistent with the federal law…..
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79 comments Add your comment
Last Man Standing
May 26th, 2011
4:25 pm
Another voice:
“You are wrong again the do not qualify for any of these benefits because citizenship requirements and their kids are US citizens and immigrates pay taxes,”
Many people could write many words refuting your idiotic statement. This time I will be a man of very few words. You’re full of it.
Last Man Standing
May 26th, 2011
4:36 pm
There is no need to deport the illegal aliens. If they aren’t given work, WIC, medical care, education, Section 8 housing or ANY entitlement, they will self-deport. Yeah, I can stand to watch them starve, live under bridges and die from lack of medical care. They are, in fact, willing to take bread out of the nouths of legal citizens, endanger their health and lives and siphon off as much of the wealth of this country as they possibly can.
Fence the border, and patrol the fence with armed personnel instructed to shoot to kill and illegal immigrant defying an order to halt. Those that syop can walk back across the border. It won’t take many who defy that order to convince a great many that it is too much of a risk to try and enter the U.S. illegally.
@ Concerned Citizen and Danny X
May 26th, 2011
4:44 pm
You Liberal guys crack me up in your portrayal of all Conservatives as redneck wild-eyed right-wing bigots that won’t be satisfied until every brown (or black or yellow) baby is roasted alive and eaten, Here’s some news: you are wrong, I, along with a fair number of folks that I know, are indeed conservative and are worried about the problem of illegal immigration. That doesn’t mean that we hate immigrants.
You guys are all peace, love, and understanding until someone disagrees with you. You need to grow up and start acting like intelligent human beings.
DannyX
May 26th, 2011
4:57 pm
“Sure it can if you libs get on board. ”
Td, it has nothing to do with getting the libs on board. It has everything to do with getting the EMPLOYERS on board. Watch what happens. It won’t be the libs screaming about the law, it will be the employers.
The EMPLOYERS are hiring the “illegals” and will do everything in their power to keep doing so. They will continue to break the law. They will lobby for waivers and exemptions. They will complain that they need the immigrant help.
The e-verify system puts the whole matter squarely on the employer, not the libs. Reality says nothing is going to be done to stop the employers.
Of course you will be complaining about the libs when this all doesn’t work out. You will place none of the blame where it belongs.
How about a boycott on Vidalia onions and chicken until they get rid of the “illegals?”
Boycott all the illegal employers.
The fact is...
May 26th, 2011
5:06 pm
@ Concerned Citizen and Danny X
LOL! Good one…now DannyX will do his usual “Medicare part D!!! Medicare Part D!!!”
DannyX
May 26th, 2011
5:11 pm
“now DannyX will do his usual “Medicare part D!!! ”
“EaT less CHickiN”
Put your ideology where your mouth is. Every single chicken is processed by a workforce that is 99% illegal.
Aquagirl
May 26th, 2011
5:13 pm
“You Liberal guys crack me up in your portrayal of all Conservatives as redneck wild-eyed right-wing bigots”
And yet the post above yours advocates shooting unarmed people who pose no physical danger. Creepy stuff.
The fact is...
May 26th, 2011
5:20 pm
DX
ZZzzzzzzz…..ZZZZZzzzzzzz…
DannyX
May 26th, 2011
5:44 pm
Creepy indeed Aquagirl.
“Yeah, I can stand to watch them starve, live under bridges and die from lack of medical care.”
LMS, did you learn that in Sunday school?
“You need to grow up and start acting like intelligent human beings.” Preach on Brother, preach on.
elroy
May 26th, 2011
5:57 pm
Most of the public doesn’t want illegals here for various reasons. majority rules! my opinion, bring the troops back from over seas & let them protect our borders. limit legal immigration as population control is still an issue. but got to get rid of those that shouldn’t be here first.
Dave Gorak
May 26th, 2011
6:07 pm
Let’s see if I correctly understand Ric’s comment: It’s “good public policy” to let employers to continue to employ illegal aliens while screwing over those 22 million American citizens who would jump at the opportunity to work in the construction, manufacturing, transportation and service industries where the majority of illegals are working.
Ric: If’m wrong, please set me straight.
Dave Gorak
Executive director
Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration
La Valle, WI
DannyX
May 26th, 2011
6:21 pm
Dave have you ever heard of “Take My Job,” a website giving unemployed Americans a chance at working in the California fields?
They had 8 people fill out their online application. One person was hired.
The majority of jobs here in Georgia that the immigrants are taking are in the fields, chicken plants and restaurants. The building industry has disappeared here. You want to start taking applications? Start filling some positions here?
Maybe some others here can start a website for Georgia, lets get these people hired!
Bill J
May 26th, 2011
6:54 pm
Ric, you must not have read my blog entry.
Illegal immigrants will work for less. Businesses generally like that, so they continue to support illegal immigration. Your “we are a market economy” phrase must use some words you had to look up or copy verbatim from someones talking points because you don’t understand what you just wrote.
Illegal immigration drives wages down for the lowest skilled. When a business says “We can’t hire Americans to do the job”, what they mean is “We don’t want to pay the necessary wage to fill this job”.
What is it that you didn’t understand about a single mom willing to drive an hour just to interview for a warehouse job? This job paid 50% more than her current position where she was competing with illegal immigrants. Since I did not want to hire illegal immigrants and was willing to pay what it took to fill the job with a qualified LEGAL immigrant or American citizens, the wage was higher.
Ric, in a “market economy” there’s competition and lots of it. When illegal labor is introduced, you do away with the level playing field. Employers “get away” with NOT competing in a market economy due to the fact that they can skirt the citizen / legal immigrant employment pool and go for the cheap labor.
Last Man Standing
May 26th, 2011
6:57 pm
DannyX:
No, they didn’t teach that in Sunday School. The Bible has very pointed references about guarding borders, though. Regardless of that, I merely say what many others think but do not verbalize, or write.
DannyX
May 26th, 2011
7:11 pm
“The Bible has very pointed references about guarding borders, thougherbalize, or write.”
Show me were Jesus says “I can stand to watch them starve, live under bridges and die from lack of medical care.” Or, “shoot to kill and illegal immigrant defying an order to halt.”
These are some of the strongest most loyal Christians in the world. Nice to know that is what many others think.
LMAO at the fool who wrote this at 4:44pm…”You guys are all peace, love, and understanding until someone disagrees with you. You need to grow up and start acting like intelligent human beings.”
Ric
May 26th, 2011
7:55 pm
My comment is still awaiting moderation after several hours, so I’ll break it into two comments:
Just Sayin,
Here are the links. Not all of them are available online, but you should be able to find most of them through your local library.
“American Unemployment in Historical Perspective” by Richard Vedder with Lowell Gallaway at Ohio University, January 1994: http://www.springerlink.com/content/j51p341618560607/
You’d have to pay to dowload it at that link. I have a printed copy from the Journal of Labor Research, which you can probably find at a library.
In March 1994, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution released a more comprehensive study by Vedder and Gallaway called “Immigration and Unemployment: New Evidence.” I can’t find it anywhere online, but I have a printed copy from AdTI, which included conclusions from their earlier research from 1978, which examined the impact of immigration on American labor markets from 1870-1920 and also compared similar patterns in New Zealand and Australia.
Testimony of James Holt to Immigration Subcommittee, September 1997:
http://judiciary.house.gov/legacy/6056.htm
Ric
May 26th, 2011
8:18 pm
Dave Gorak,
No, it’s bad public policy for government to impose unfunded mandates to private businesses. It’s also bad public policy for government to place bureaucratic barriers between supply and demand in the form of immigration quotas.
Last Man Standing
May 26th, 2011
8:21 pm
DannyX:
“Show me were Jesus says “I can stand to watch them starve, live under bridges and die from lack of medical care.” Or, “shoot to kill and illegal immigrant defying an order to halt.”
The references in the Bible did NOT say that, and I wouldn’t dare speak for Jesus. We are told to guard our borders, and the means were not specified. As to the other part of my statement, I did not infer that what I wrote was Biblical. That is simply my thinking.
Are you a Christian? If so, and you disagree with, I encourage you to seek out an illegal alien and invite him and his 30 family members to share your home. Feed them, clothe them, care for their medical needs and see to their education. That will give the legal citizens a break from the tax and other burdens created by these people. Get back to me and let me know how that works out for you.
PS: Don’t be signing them up for Medicare D!
Ric
May 26th, 2011
8:37 pm
There are plenty of workers shortages around the country. Despite high unemployment, low-skilled jobs continue to go unfilled.
On Mackinac Island, MI in 2009, 24 businesses closed because they didn’t have enough workers to operate at full capacity… despite 20% unemployment in Michigan that year.
According to the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce, they had to shorten their tourism season in 2009 because they didn’t have enough seasonal workers.
30% of crab processing plants in Maryland have closed over the past four years because of a lack of workers. Crab house owners even petitioned the Maryland state legislature to let them contract prison labor.
Motivatit Seafood Company in Louisiana lost $1 million revenue because they were only 70% staffed last year.
In North Carolina in 2009, most sweet potato farmers were operating at 1/5 capacity.
In Yuma, AZ this year, 20% of the lettuce went unpicked.
Most farmers don’t pay by the hour, they pay by the amount of work accomplished, so many undocumented immigrants here in Vidalia onion country are earning more than minimum wage because they work very efficiently. Even though it’s possible to earn more than minimum wage in agriculture regardless of your legal status, natives are still not doing these jobs. I personally know more than 30 farmers who use the H2A visa system in a six-county region who are having trouble filling jobs this year. Since they have to file H2A requests up to a year in advance, they have to guess at how many workers they’ll need and pray their crops grow accordingly. Now they’re having to look for native workers (for the second time, since H2A employers are required to document that they tried to hire citizens first). Most of them work very enthusiastically for about an hour… and almost none of them state more than two hours.
The question is not a matter of “Americans won’t do those jobs” or “Americans will do those jobs.” The question is simple: ARE Americans doing those jobs.
If you want the jobs, they’re open. Come to Vidalia and harvest onions. Come slice chickens heads off and pluck their feathers in a poultry plant like I have.
Just Sayin...
May 26th, 2011
8:42 pm
Ric
One last try. You said: “Immigrants, regardless of their legal status, are creating more jobs in our economy than they fill.”
Now, instead of some dribble, about where this “might” be, or “look for”; just provide the graph, chart, paragraph, exact study, or analysis, that proves your statement. You have yet to back up your statement that these people are “creating more jobs in our economy than they fill”.
Ric
May 26th, 2011
8:43 pm
Just sayin,
I have been trying to post the links since 4:00. As you will see above, the first part has already been posted. The second part is awaiting moderation, but I will try to break it up into two shorter comments.
Ric
May 26th, 2011
8:47 pm
Part 2:
2002 Study from the University of Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development: http://www.urbaneconomy.org/sites/default/files/undoc_wages_working_64.pdf
2007 Council of Economic Advisors Report on Immigration’s Economic Impact: http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/cea/cea_immigration_062007.html
(The link to the full PDF file is broken, but it gives you a brief overview. If you want to see the full PDF, you can get a printed copy from your congressman’s office, your local university, or a public library.) There was also a similar report from CEA in 2005, but it is no longer available on the White House archives site.
Ric
May 26th, 2011
8:49 pm
Part 3:
“How Immigrants Affect California Employment and Wages” by Giovannia Peri, 2007: http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/cacounts/CC_207GPCC.pdf
A 2006 Pew study on the correlation between employment rates and immigrant populations by geography in the United States: http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/69.pdf
One of the most comprehensive studies on this subject was done in 1997 by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. It’s not available for free anywhere online, but if you’re really interested in the subject, it’s worth the investment. I keep it at my desk as a handy reference: “The New Americans: Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration.”
magyart
May 27th, 2011
2:43 am
I applaud this decision by the Supreme Court and hope that most states pass similar laws. Although, I would rather see federal legislation forcing all employers to use E-Verify for all employees. The federal SAVE Act would accomplish this.
Nothing in this law conflicts or preempts federal law, as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Attorney General claimed. The court ruled the state is on “correct” legal grounds when state law mirrors federal law. This ruling may be a good indicator the SB1070 will be upheld.
Visit Numbers USA and ALIPAC websites and help fight illegal immigration.
Fire Eater
May 27th, 2011
7:52 am
Enter your comments here
Fire Eater
May 27th, 2011
8:10 am
This is an important ruling on several fronts.
First, it completely demolishes the leftwing media-created lie that “immigration is a federal issue” and may not properly be legislated on at the state level. A lie that is used by the left to gin up momentum for “immigration reform,” i.e. amnesty for illegal alien invaders from the third world at the federal level. The left was hoping this false view would be codified with a SC decision…THEY LOST.
Secondly, it slaps down the Chamber of Commerce, one half of the strange Siamese twin of immigration advocates, the other half being various radical leftist and ethnic grievance hate groups. Further scrutiny would reveal that many of the “advocates for immigrants” are FUNDED by Chamber of Commerce-friendly tax-exempt foundations.
This ruling will put wind into the sails of flagging state efforts to combat this menace by providing solid case law in support thereof. Alien advocates will no longer be able to scream that such efforts are “unconstitutional,” as if they really cared about that document. Thank goodness patriots kept Harriet Myers off of the Supreme Court or this ruling, like that in the Chicago gun case, would have gone the other way.
Ric
May 27th, 2011
8:24 am
From page 7 of yesterday’s majority opinion by Chief Justice Roberts: “…we recognized that the “[p]ower to regulate immigration is unquestionably . . . a federal power.”
AThomp
May 27th, 2011
2:04 pm
There’s a demand for our way of life, and a limited supply. That’s why we have illegal immigrants and jobs going oversees. People want what we have and our willing to work harder for less to get it. Protectionism isn’t going to remedy the situation. Being American doesn’t entitle you to anything You can legislate American entitlement, but our other entitlement programs aren’t exactly helping our economy or setting America up for continued Superpower status. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, etc. they’re nice things but other countries that are getting formerly American jobs don’t have those programs and scoff at the idea of unions. I really feel this discussion isn’t looking at the big picture. At the end of the day, the buck stops with us, the American people. One option: we take up arms or try to use the UN to make all other nations conform to what we believe people are entitled to and level the economic playing field. Second Option: We shift spending from defense and entitlements to Education and economic incentives (solar subsidies making it a cheaper energy than coal, manufacturing subsidies ((our capital remains expensive but the government offsets the costs.)) Third Option: we change nothing, expect our same level of lifestyle and watch as the middle class drifts into nothingness and blame our condition on ready scapegoats, like illegal immigrants,illegal presidents, Jews, Democrats, Republicans, minorities, Socialists, Communists, and the Mayan Calender. But hey, you know what it’s okay, we’ve been here before. Empires rise and fall, man kind marches on. Educate yourself and work hard and you’ll always have a job, even if you have to immigrate somewhere else to get one, maybe even illegally… :O
GroundZero
May 27th, 2011
11:35 pm
Blame your elected officials or your lack of voting. If I could work for cash, pay no taxes, get free medical, have all the info needed printed in my language and have a baby or two and get a monthly check for that also, I would be all
Maybe if the goverment would treat all Americans the same everybody would be happy and this discussion would end.