Immigration, Employment Verification and Border Issues

Policy Accomplishments for 2007

• Successfully lobbied the departments of State and Homeland Security (DHS) to reverse an arbitrary decision not to accept applications for employment-sponsored permanent visas (green cards).

• Successfully lobbied DHS to give children who are U.S. or Canadian citizens significant documentation flexibility for crossing the border at land and seaports. Successfully lobbied for provisions, as part of the 9/11 bill, mandating that before publishing a final rule implementing WHTI, the secretary of Homeland Security complete a full and thorough cost-benefit analysis.

• Worked to remove provisions in appropriations bills that would have required federal contractors to use the error-prone basic pilot employment verification program. 

• Successfully spearheaded a legal challenge to DHS's Social Security No-Match Letter regulation, which would have forced employers to fire employees if a discrepancy in the government's notoriously flawed databases could not be resolved within 90 days. 

• Commissioned and published a study on the economic effects of state and local immigration laws. Successfully raised funds and awareness in the business community to begin a national litigation campaign to help local businesses challenge unconstitutional attempts by states and localities to restrict or regulate immigration. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania struck down as unconstitutional an anti-immigration ordinance in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Litigation in Arizona is pending, and the Chamber expects to file lawsuits in other jurisdictions.