Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Alabama Deals with Immigration Problems

Alabama has suddenly become the leader in comprehensive immigration reform, passing up Arizona whose laws have had so much news coverage. Passed by large margins in the Alabama State Legislature, this new law covers most areas of abuses by illegal aliens. Like the Arizona law recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, Alabama’s law requires employers to verify the legal status of their employees by using the federal government’s E-Verify program. That Arizona law was signed by then-Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, a Democrat, who is now director of the Department of Homeland Security.

E-Verify was created by the federal government for voluntary use. It can now be made mandatory by state law. E-Verify instantly checks workers’ Social Security numbers to make sure they are eligible to work, and is so easy and inexpensive for employers to use that more than 99% of lawful workers receive positive verification within seconds.

Opponents of the Arizona law that made E-Verify mandatory tried to get supremacist judges to knock it out on the argument that it was preempted by federal law. They lost bigtime when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Arizona law is okay as a business license statute, which is an ordinary power of the states and expressly allowed by federal immigration law. The employer doesn’t commit a crime if he fails to use E-Verify, but he could lose his business license, which the state government has the authority to revoke. This law also bars businesses from taking state tax deductions on wages paid to illegal aliens.

Three other states also make E-Verify mandatory. A half-dozen others require the use of E-Verify for state employees or contractors.

SOURCE





Dutch want to throw out migrant Poles who can't find a job

Holland is on a collision course with the EU over a threat to deport Poles and other Eastern Europeans who cannot find work.

Ministers in the Hague also want to withhold migrants’ state benefits if they don’t speak Dutch.

Brussels fears that other countries experiencing an influx of jobseekers from member states might be tempted to copy the Netherlands’ threat, even though such a move would breach EU laws.
Dutch Defence minister Henk Kamp believes that Poles who have not been able to find work for three months should be kicked out of the country

Dutch social affairs minister Henk Kamp has presented proposals to expel Polish and other Eastern European nationals who are without work for three months and have little prospect of finding any. He also plans to withhold welfare benefits from those who have not learned Dutch.

The moves are likely to breach rules protecting freedom of work and movement for people within the EU.

Holland has about 200,000 migrant workers from Eastern Europe. Although this figure is far less than for some other countries – such as the million-plus who have come to Britain since Eastern European accession to the EU in 2004 – the number is growing rapidly.

Poland’s economic affairs minister Waldemar Pawlak called the Dutch plans ‘worrying’, adding: ‘This development is dangerous and could lead to the collapse of the European system of freedom of movement.’

Poland’s European affairs minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz said there have been ‘robust talks’ with the Netherlands on the proposals.

Poland took over the presidency of the EU last Friday for the next six months.

Europe’s justice commissioner Viviane Reding has warned the Netherlands that it ‘must respect EU rules on the freedom of movement between member states’. If the Netherlands fails to comply with EU legislation, the commission will make its position ‘loud and clear’, she said. ‘All member states are equal and the rules are transparent,’ she added.

All people within the EU have a right to freedom of movement and work as long as they are either working or are self-sufficient in funding.

The accession countries partially enjoyed these rights after 2004, and have fully done so since the end of the ‘transition’ period in May this year.

This means it is likely to be illegal for Holland to carry out the proposals, particularly those which relate to language requirements.

While countries like Britain have rigidly stuck to EU laws and directives, other nations have been less circumspect on doing so, and in many cases go unpunished.

Other than receiving a rebuke from the European Commission, they could eventually be dragged through the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg – which could take many years.

Poland’s ambassador to the Netherlands said recent anti-Polish statements by politicians there ‘border on discrimination’.

There is a growing discontent with labour migrants in the Netherlands, where Poles are accused misusing the social benefit system.

In 2007 there were 20,000 Poles there, now there are close to 200,000, according to figures from the Polish Embassy in the country.

The rise has prompted a number of factories in the Netherlands to use Polish to communicate, with signs written in the language as well as the hiring of Polish managerial staff.

SOURCE

No comments:

Post a Comment