While we’ve heard a lot of discussion over the past few weeks about the problems with the Senate immigration bill, there has been very little mention of key aspects of the bill that will affect every working American.

Title III would require every person working in America, including U.S. citizens, to have his or her eligibility to work verified by the Department of Homeland Security using the already overburdened and error-plagued Employment Eligibility Verification System (EEVS). EEVS creates a massive government database containing extraordinary amounts of personal information about every person in America. Everyone will have to carry a hardened Social Security card, perhaps containing biometric information about the cardholder - essentially a national ID, and present a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license to get any new job. And, if the government’s data is wrong the Senate bill does not allow the individual who is wrongly denied the ability to work to get wages lost due to government error.

In addition, a number of the proposed amendments would deny due process and undermine the values of our country and our Constitution. For example, Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Tex.) inappropriately named “Fairness in Immigration Litigation Act� (FILA) would eliminate effective judicial review of DHS errors denying immigrants their rights. It places arbitrary and absurdly short deadlines on courts deciding immigration cases and shuts down injunctions against the DHS when the department has violated the law.

Given the high caseload faced by America’s federal courts, it is all too likely that many credible immigration appeals would never receive serious review from a judge and therefore would be dismissed without any consideration of their merits. Recent history clearly demonstrates that effective judicial review is needed to ensure that DHS properly enforces the law. Congress must reject this un-American amendment.

Other problematic amendments include an amendment by Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) allowing states to designate on driver’s licenses whether or not the carrier is a citizen - likely resulting in discrimination against non-citizens, and several ill-advised “English Only� amendments that would, among other things, outlaw federal documents from being produced in languages other than English.

Before any immigration legislation is considered, Congress must make changes to ensure it does not violate our values, due process or the Constitution.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 9:29 am and is filed under Politics, Foreign Policy, Civil Rights, Homeland Security .