Two ardent proponents of border security are teaming up to introduce a bipartisan bill aimed at curtailing illegal immigration through employer sanctions.

Reps. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) and Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), who were both elected after strongly criticizing President Bush’s approach to immigration reform, are unveiling a bill Tuesday that has already attracted the support of dozens of members.

“It’s the one [immigration] bill that will pass this Congress,” said Bilbray in an interview. “We have to make this about illegal employment and crack down on employers.”

The Secure America with Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act focuses on three areas:

Employment enforcement
Interior enforcement and
Increased border security

One of the more controversial provisions would make the so-called E-Verify program mandatory, a move that raises major concerns with industry officials. Proponents of the E-Verify program say it allows employers an inexpensive way to ensure they are hiring legally documented workers.

They maintain that the program has been successful, but is only being used by a small percentage of employers. Randel Johnson, vice president of labor, immigration and employee benefits for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said Monday that while E-Verification programs can be beneficial, they are also flawed. “We’re in support of the E-Verification system, but it has errors and has the potential to do harm to U.S. workers as well as undocumented workers.”

Johnson suggested that rather than requiring employers to use the system immediately, it should be phased in and checked frequently for mistakes. The Shuler-Bilbray bill would also close existing loopholes that allow illegal immigrants to use the same Social Security number and will require information-sharing between the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the IRS.

In order to increase border security, the bill seeks to provide an 8,000-agent increase for the U.S. Border Patrol and an expansion of the investigative abilities of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “It really reflects what polls show across the board … this needs to be a bipartisan effort,” Bilbray said.

The California legislator said Shuler initially approached him with the idea and he immediately decided to sign on. Shuler, a centrist freshman who defeated then-Rep. Charles Taylor (R) last year, did not return calls for comment.

At press time, 42 Democrats and 36 Republicans had signed on to the bill, including several freshman Democrats who are in Republican-leaning congressional districts.

However, top Democratic and GOP leadership members have not signed on as co-sponsors. The presence of three dozen Republican co-sponsors illustrates that certain factions of the GOP are willing to embrace employer mandates as a solution to illegal immigration.

“This issue needs to have a coalition of the middle,” Bilbray said, adding that he informed House Republican leadership of his intention to introduce the bill. Co-sponsors include Reps. John Murtha (D-Pa.) and so-called hard-liners Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) and Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.). Most of the Democratic co-sponsors are centrists.

Bilbray spokesman Kurt Bardella claimed that the legislation is a reflection of the lesson members learned from the recent Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act debate in the Senate: that nothing immigration–related would move through Congress until the three areas the SAVE Act highlights are addressed.

The DREAM Act, sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), fell short of the necessary 60 votes last month. Asked whether he or Shuler had spoken to senators about the bill, Bilbray said he is confident that the upper chamber will follow the House’s lead.
SOURCE:The Hill
Editors Note:Top Democrats need to get on board, but their hopes to capture amnesty immigrants could back fire, triggered by the legals---you and I