Govt. Contractors Can Still Hire Illegals

Caving into pressure from a national organization of immigration lawyers, the Obama Administration has delayed implementation of a measure requiring federal contractors to use an employment verification system.

Scheduled to take effect this month, the new I-9 Regulation requires companies that win government contracts of more than $100,000 to use a federal electronic database to verify that employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S. The rule would also apply to subcontractors with deals that exceed $3,000.

About 100,000 companies already use the federal database known as E-Verify, but illegal immigrant advocates as well as businesses across the country argue that the system is flawed. They further allege that it’s a voluntary program and therefore the Department of Homeland Security lacks authority to make it mandatory. 

The nation’s new Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, agreed and issued a directive saying that the measure would be delayed 60 days. The extension, according to a notice posted in the Federal Register, will provide Homeland Security officials the "opportunity for further review and consideration" of the rule. 

Possible interpretation: It may never be implemnted. After all, the offiical in charge of enforcing the measure has a history of siding with illegal immigrants. This is well documented in Napolitano’s tenure as Arizona governor. 

During her two terms she vetoed several key laws to curb her state’s illegal immigration crisis, including measures to deny illegal aliens public assistance and discounted in-state college tuition and a bill allowing cooperation between local police and federal immigration officials. Napolitano also killed a crucial law that would have rejected the easily forged Mexican Matricula Consular card as a valid form of identification. 

On a national level Napolitano pushed hard to expand a fraud-infested visa program that allows U.S. employers to hire educated foreign workers for specialty occupations. The government annually grants 65,000 H-1B visas and Napolitano wants to increase it by 20,000 despite the fact that the program is rife with the sort of corruption that undoubtedly compromises national security.