“The first part is increasing the border security,” Rep. Heath Shuler said about his SAVE Act. The bill requests an increase of 6,000 border patrol agents. Incentives for border patrol agents would include relocation bonuses and paying off student loans, he said. (0:28)
By Mariko Lamb – Talk Radio News Service
Representative Heath Shuler (D-N.C.) reintroduced the SAVE Act, a bipartisan immigration bill that would increase border security, provide law enforcement with the tools to better ensure that immigration policy is followed, increase the number of immigration judges and utilize E-Verify, a system designed to ensure employee eligibility.
Shuler said that although multiple parts of the U.S. immigration system are broken, “this is the initial step to make sure that this broken system is fixed.”
“With high unemployment, half a million people losing their jobs every day, we have to ensure that Americans and legal immigrants get those jobs, not those who are breaking the law,” he said.
Senator David Vitter (R-La.), one of the 74 bipartisan co-sponsors of the bill, said that the SAVE Act is a “common sense immigration approach” that “is supported by a broad consensus of the American people.”
“The American people get it. They know that illegal immigration is a serious problem, and they know that the way to fix it is enforcement at the borders, enforcement at the workplace, and not having an amnesty program,” Vitter said.
The House Judiciary Committee oversaw a hearing on electronic employment verification systems and the safeguards needed to protect privacy and prevent misuse within them. Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) presided over the hearing, while Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Rep. Heath Shuler (D-N.C.), Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.), and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) served as the primary witnesses. Both Lofgren and Conyers wanted a thorough explanation of the E-Verify system and the New Employee Verification Act (NEVA), sorting out the fact from the fiction. (more…)
