OPINION:
There’s a crisis on the southern border.
In February, Border Patrol officers apprehended more than 76,000 illegal border crossers — the most in a month since 2008 — and caravans from Central America continue to head north to the United States. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen anticipates that Border Patrol officers could encounter more than 100,000 illegal border crossers in March.
The current crisis is driven by an influx of Central American family units making their way to the United States, but illegal immigration has been an issue for decades.
While the recent debate has been centered around President Trump’s call for a border wall, the best way to deter illegal immigration has mostly left out of the conversation — requiring all businesses to use E-Verify.
E-Verify is an easy-to-use, web-based application that’s already utilized by more than 836,000 employers across the country, largely due to more than a dozen states that have passed laws requiring its use.
The system, operated and maintained by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, uses existing databases, including those maintained by the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security, to determine if a new hire is authorized to work in the United States. Decisions are typically made within seconds. Nearly 10 million cases were created during the last fiscal year.
Most illegal aliens came to the United States to work. Thousands of foreign citizens cross our borders illegally or overstay a visa each month because they know they can obtain a job. Employers rely on this steady flow of cheap labor to keep costs down and profits up. But even the low wages offered to illegal workers far exceed the wages throughout Central America.
Public support for E-Verify is high, typically exceeding 70 percent in every poll. The employers who currently use the system sing its high praises. And yet, Congress has yet to vote on stand-alone legislation that requires all businesses to use E-Verify, despite support from business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Society for Human Resource Managers.
The closest Congress has come to passing an E-Verify law was last summer. The Legal Workforce Act, authored by former Rep. Lamar Smith, Texa Republican, and now championed by Rep. Ken Calvert, California Republican, was included in H.R. 4760, the Securing America’s Future Act. The legislation fell just 18 votes short of passage last summer.
The strongest resistance to nationwide E-Verify comes from the agricultural industry. An attempt was made last summer to pair E-Verify with an expanded guest-worker program for ag employers, but the bill never received a vote after vocal opposition from the Western Growers Association.
E-Verify is nearly sure-fire, but it won’t end the ongoing surge of family units crossing the border illegally.
The Border Patrol has already apprehended more family units over the first five months of fiscal 2019 than in any previous fiscal year, and most enter a defensive asylum plea after being apprehended. If those who claim asylum make it through the initial process — the credible fear interview — they’re typically released into the interior of the country and can apply for a work permit after 150 days.
The Obama administration made it easier for migrants to seek asylum by reducing the credible fear standard. The effect has been a massive spike in the number of asylum claims over the last decade, leading to a logjam in the immigration courts. But just because an asylum-seeker makes it through the credible fear interview doesn’t guarantee asylum. In fact, 65 percent of asylum-seekers had their claims denied by an immigration judge last year. Therefore, Congress needs to increase the credible fear standard to ensure that only those with legitimate claims of credible fear are allowed to continue.
Congress must also fund additional detention space and overturn the Flores Settlement Agreement. The spending bill passed by Congress and signed into law by Mr. Trump in February reduced funding for detention beds, forcing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release more immigration violators from custody. Under the Flores Settlement Agreement, the feds are prohibited from detaining minors for longer than 20 days, so nearly all illegal border crossers who are accompanied by a minor are released from custody.
Until Congress takes these actions, nothing will stop the surge of family units crossing the border illegally.
But even if these measures are passed and the border crisis ended, illegal immigration will continue until Congress requires all businesses to use E-Verify. Only then will there be a significant reduction in the number of illegal border crossers and visa overstays.
• Chris Chmielenski is deputy director of NumbersUSA.
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