The Board of Supervisors voted 5 to 0 in recent days to have County officials review E-Verify - an online service that determines whether residents seeking gainful employment are legal immigrants or authorized to work in the United States.
The Obama administration is widely promoting the program which is free to employers.
With a potent tool such as E-Verify, employers are able to dredge up legal particulars - and likewise - determine an applicant's status in respect to a potential new hire.
Behind-the-scenes, handlers have whispered that Obama has acknowledged his intention to exclusively award contracts to only those companies that enroll in the E-Verify program.
Talk about twisting arms!
Participation has been a bit spotty.
For instance, there is no requirement that hiring halls facilitate the E-Verify online service in California.
However, a few states have jumped on the band wagon.
According to sources, the program is becoming increasingly popular, which has resulted in about one-thousand new companies signing up each week.
When it comes to accuracy, the illegal-immigrant cracker is pretty much on the money.
For example, an official at INS noted at a recent press junket, that the accuracy rate is about 97 percent.
For this reason, LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has been touting the program, too.
After all, benefits not only include improved accuracy when it comes to wage and tax reporting, but welcome relief to employers who would otherwise be forced to maintain an enforcement team to feret out the illegals in order to avoid penalties, prosecution, and-so-forth and-so-on.
On the flip side of the coin, advocates of immigrant rights are concerned that the program may result in racial profiling, instead.
Jorge-Mario Cabrera (at the Coalition for Humane Immigration rights) went farther and accused Officials of engaging in mean-spirited "witch hunts".
Balderdash!
But, Ira Mehlman got it right.
Mehlman predicted that if city personnel adopted the E-Verify program, it would set an example for other counties who have - 'til now - bent over backwards to accomodate illegal aliens because of the economic crisis.
The need for cheap labor factors in, I expect, although Mehlman didn't say it in so many words.
In my opinion, a candy-ass approach to the illegal immigrant problem, does nothing to resolve the issues.
It should be noted that because of a downturn in the economy - and a shortage of jobs for day workers - there has been a drop in immigrants crossing the border in search of lucrative tax-free day work on these shores.
What does that tell 'ya?
E-Verify may be a darn good deterent in the final analysis.
So much so, that one day it may not even be necessary to secure the border.
After all, the pursuit of the elusive American dream has lost all its luster - and likewise - turned into a nightmare for foreigners.
Shame?
Rene de Visme Williamson said it best:
“If the American dream is for Americans only, it will remain our dream and never be our destiny”
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