Comprehensive bill tackles immigration problems
Bill would establish a verification system for employers to check an employee’s immigration status through Social Security Administration and Homeland Security Department records.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) introduced legislation today aimed at tackling current immigration problems by addressing the hiring of illegal immigrants and the country’s borders control.
“Everyone recognizes that our current immigration system is broken, plagued by insufficient immigration enforcement and border security resources and wholesale disregard for our immigration laws,” Sensenbrenner said in a press release.
Sensenbrenner’s bill would establish a system for employers to verify an employee’s immigration status through Social Security Administration and Homeland Security Department records. Six years after enactment, the bill states that employers would be required to verify the eligibility of all new hires.
The bill would require DHS to better connect the FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System to DHS’ Automated Biometric Identification System. DHS would have to collect 10 fingerprints from individuals using the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program.
The legislation would also have the federal government reimburse local sheriff’s departments for immigration enforcement costs and for detaining illegal immigrants. Criminal penalties for smuggling aliens in the country would be stiff with mandatory minimum sentences.
This comprehensive legislation is a conglomeration of previously introduced bills by other House Republicans. The House may vote on the bill next week.
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