[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 29 (Wednesday, February 12, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H1118-H1119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1800
            E-VERIFY IS THE SOLUTION TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I want to talk about immigration, more 
importantly, a guest worker program for agriculture that will solve 
this dilemma.
  The reason we have an immigration issue in this country is because 
this body has failed to act in the last 30 years. It is something that 
the American population shouldn't have to go through and the immigrants 
shouldn't have to go through because there are simple solutions out 
there. But, unfortunately, in this body, politics gets played and 
prevents that from happening.
  E-Verify is the solution to illegal immigration. E-Verify stands for 
an electronic verification system that verifies one's legal 
identification.
  The ID number most commonly used for employment is a person's Social 
Security number. This ID number is used at an employee's place of 
employment, and the employer uses this number to validate the 
identification number of the employee.
  There are some major concerns and shortfalls with relying on a Social 
Security number for identification, as we will explain below.
  Using a Social Security number sets the system up for fraud and does 
nothing to verify the legal status of an individual.
  Other numbers can be used for identification purposes for employment, 
but there does not yet exist a universally accepted ID number or an 
adequate program for a non-U.S. citizen to use or to enroll into a 
national E-Verify system.
  The problem with using a Social Security number is often they are 
used by multiple persons fraudulently at the same time and do not 
provide positive identification of the person using that specific 
number.
  For instance, in my discussions with DHS E-Verify personnel, the 
people who run that program say they can verify a Social Security 
number as legitimate within seconds. This is something that is free to 
the employer. So they can run a Social Security number and verify it 
within seconds, but they cannot verify if the person using that number 
is, in fact, the actual person that the unique Social Security number 
was assigned to.
  DHS has said that, in many instances, a Social Security number will 
be verified as real, yet it will show up in 10 different locations 
around the country at the same time. Therefore, all E-Verify is doing 
is verifying a legitimate Social Security number, not whether an 
individual is permitted to work here legally or if that person is the 
legitimate holder of that Social Security number.
  Another issue with using a Social Security number for non-U.S. 
citizens is that somehow it denotes citizenship, and so people think, 
if they have a Social Security number, that the person using it is a 
U.S. citizen.
  A Social Security number, in what we are promoting and advocating 
for, should be reserved for and used only by U.S. citizens. All others 
should receive a different form of identification.
  There is a solution. What I propose is to create a standardized E-
Verify system used universally around the country so all employers can 
verify the legal status and identity of an employee. This protects the 
employer from hiring illegal individuals, as well as providing the 
migrant employee legal documentation, identification, and permission to 
be in the country to work.
  The solution is a guest worker identification card. This card can be 
referred to as the GWIC. The GWIC will have a unique 15-digit 
identification number issued to each unique individual. The GWIC, or 
guest worker identification card, will also have a photo of the 
individual on the front and a smart chip embedded in it.
  The smart chip will have embedded within it biosecurity information 
belonging to that cardholder. The recommended biosecurity information 
would be facial recognition, fingerprints, retinal scans, possibly 
blood type and DNA. Other things that have been proposed are personal 
questions only the cardholder would know, and they could customize 
their individual, unique card to have this information included in the 
encrypted technology.
  This information would only be available to DHS or government 
agencies. An employer could not get into this because they would be 
locked out of that information.
  The current sectors being proposed in the U.S. Congress to be able to 
use this program are agriculture, hospitality, and construction. These 
designations would be at the end of the unique 15-digit identification 
card.
  So, for instance, there would be the 15-digit number, and at the end 
of that would be the initials AG for agriculture, HP for hospitality, 
or CS for construction.

  The way this program is set up would allow a person to apply, prior 
to coming into the United States, to work in a specific sector. For 
example, if the person applies to the agricultural sector, they don't 
come into the country until there is a job.
  So, at the beginning of the process, they are what we would call an 
applicant. When the person applies and goes through the process and 
gets accepted into the guest worker program for agriculture, that 
individual also agrees that they will work only in the agriculture 
sector. Or if they want to work construction, they are agreeing to work 
only in the construction sector.

[[Page H1119]]

  Therefore, they get accepted into a program based on a need for that 
job, and they get issued a GWIC card, a guest worker identification 
card, that the individual's personal information is embedded in. The 
GWIC card, again, would have a unique 15-digit number with the initials 
AG for agriculture. This worker has agreed only to work in the 
agriculture sector.
  So, when the agriculture producer enters the individual's number into 
a GWIC reading machine, into the E-Verify system, it is promptly 
verified by the Department of Homeland Security as an approved worker 
in the agriculture sector. This would also apply for the construction 
industry and also for the hospitality industry. The producer and the 
worker have the assurance that they are in compliance with the law.
  If a producer or worker hires or works outside of the permitted 
sector according to the GWIC designation, they are doing so 
fraudulently and subject to fines and being blocked from the E-Verify 
system in the future for a period of time. This will limit the 
producer's availability for labor and also prevent that worker from 
employment opportunities in the United States.
  This proposed solution has already been created in legislation for 
the agriculture sector. It is called the Agriculture Guest Worker 
Program. This legislation has been created in a bipartisan fashion in 
the House and shared with both parties in the Senate. It has also been 
shared with the White House and with the USDA. It will solve the 
incentive that we have for the individuals willing to come to the 
United States illegally to find work.
  Most of the individuals who come here are looking to work in the 
less-skilled fields that exist in the agriculture, hospitality, and 
construction fields. They will not be able to work legally without the 
proper permit as designated by the guest worker identification card, 
nor will employers be able to hire individuals without the proper guest 
worker identification permit.
  In my home State of Florida, Governor DeSantis is pushing to have 
mandatory E-Verify implemented soon. I commend him for this initiative. 
In fact, I had a phone call with him today.
  However, legislators in the State body are objecting to this program. 
Even members in his own party are resisting this requirement. 
Oftentimes, this is what creates the inaction known too well in 
Washington, D.C., and also at the State level. Therefore, nothing gets 
solved. This resistance comes from not having a sensible working 
program for people to apply to the E-Verify system and also having the 
identification that a worker can get, and so what happens is a 
stagnation of ideas for things moving forward.
  What we are proposing is this program that people can apply to work. 
Say, if they want to work in the agriculture sector, they can apply 
before they come into the country. It stops that need for people having 
to cross the desert to get into this country illegally because now they 
can do that before they come into the country.
  They come into the country when a job is available. They are already 
automatically enrolled into the E-Verify system, so our producers in 
the agriculture sector have a readily predictable, legal workforce that 
is there that they can pull from and they can verify and be in 
compliance with the law.
  Like I said, what is needed is a workable guest worker program that 
allows for the worker to enter the E-Verify system prior to entering 
into the United States as well as allowing workers into the country to 
enter this program.
  Right now in this country, we have between 12 to 15 million people 
who are in this country illegally. Some of them came legally on a work 
visa, but then they just kind of drifted off and stayed in this country 
and did not leave when they were supposed to.
  With this program that we are proposing with this legislation, 
workers could enter into this program and they could become legally 
accepted into the United States. It is not a pathway to citizenship, 
but it doesn't prevent somebody from applying for citizenship.
  This agriculture guest worker program is incorporating the guest 
worker identification number in the E-Verify system as I propose. It is 
a workable solution for our producers that want to be compliant with a 
workable E-Verify system and have access to a reliable, predictable, 
and legal labor pool. This program also gives the migrant worker who 
desires the opportunity to work in this country a legal way to 
accomplish that.
  In the agriculture sector, which I know very well, as we went around 
the State of Florida and we talked to the migrant workers, they say 
they can come and work 5 months in this country and make the equivalent 
of 5 years of income in their country.
  And I had one of my producers say, if we don't fix our labor issue in 
America, we are either going to import our labor or we are going to 
import our food. If we get to a situation in America where we are 
importing our food, it is a national security risk.
  This is something that Congress can come together and fix. It 
shouldn't be a partisan issue. This is a solution to a problem that is 
good for America; and if a solution is good for America, everybody 
benefits from it.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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