E-Verify takes aim at wrong target

"Despite record unemployment, seven million people work in theU.S. illegally," said Congressman Lamar Smith, chair of theCongressional Judiciary Committee in a statement accompanying the E-Verify bill when it was filed last month. According toComputerworld, a coalition of civil rights and privacy groups saidthe E-Verify bill would "for the first time in history, requireevery American to be checked against an error-prone governmentdatabase. The risks to individual privacy are too great and thelikely benefits are too small to justify inserting the federalgovernment into every hiring decision made."

This distraction of immigration being the "problem" with jobsmust stop, otherwise real economic recovery cannot begin. Realeconomic recovery starts with big businesses reinvesting in theU.S.A. Namely education - our future economy - is extremely relevantand requires equal investment to that which is given to the "profit-now/emerging market" centers. The challenge with jobs (the economy)is policy and information, and the lack thereof. The ignorant say,"illegals are taking our jobs." The ignorant have been programmedand are oblivious to the fact they are fighting for bottom-of-the-barrel jobs. Their attention should be upward, on how they mightbetter themselves and assist with the creation of policy thatembraces the natural resources that come to us from all over thisworld, rich in diverse language and culture, making us strongercompetitors in the global economy.

A small percentage of misinformed individuals have bought theabsurdity of "fight to the bottom," and are negatively influencingour communities. The notion that we should expend our energy andresources focusing on how to fight for dead-end, no-benefit, low-wage jobs is nothing more than a distraction. It serves to pull ourattention away from the huge divestiture big U.S. corporations aremaking, leaving huge - gaping - economic holes in almost every cityof this country.

It is easy to blame the undocumented person for the unemploymentproblem, but it is the most incorrect and unsubstantiated statementthat can be made. Just look at the jobless engineer who might say hecould have had that job at McDonald's if it were not for the"illegal" who snuck in for pennies less. This without a doubt isbeyond ridiculous.

At one time this country was No. 1 in college graduates and jobpay. At one time moms (dads) could stay home and raise the kids. Atone time the prison budget was a fraction of the education budget.At one time U.S. corporations were investing in America, while wegave them skimpy tax breaks, compared to today's outrageous formulaof "the more you divest from the U.S., the more tax breaks we willgive you, Mr. Corporation."

Adding insult to injury, Congressman Lamar Smith wants us tobelieve he understands the problem of immigration by proposing amultibillion-dollar undertaking in building a nationalidentification system under the guise of controlling immigration.The E-Verify system could easily have been ripped from the pages ofGeorge Orwell's "1984" - the "Big Brother is watching" novel.

For the most part, the E-Verify system is duplicative.Congressman Lamar Smith's software and information technologycompanies (sponsors) stand to make billions of dollars off the E-Verify system, at a time when we can least afford it. According toComputerworld, Adi Kamdar of the Electronic Frontier Foundation saidthe proposed E-Verify bill would create a "bureaucratic nightmarefor American businesses" while offering little to combat illegalimmigration. At the same time, the plan would become "an enticementto malicious hackers and an enormous risk of unintended disclosure."

Are our resources best spent keeping the jobless engineer in theminimum-wage McDonald's job, or can we do better? We can and must dobetter. It starts with getting the facts.

Be clear: Corporate divestiture, not immigration, is to blame forthe huge job crisis we currently face.

Be clear: Having undocumented families in this country representsan incalculable positive economic benefit, of whom without, theeconomic crisis we currently face would be much, much worse.

Thank God for this country, and thank God for millions ofundocumented families who make our economic system work.

L.A. Ortega leads the One Million NIU (new Internet users) in2011 Coalition and is president/CEO of Community Union;Lortega@communityunion.org.