King on job creation: Crack down on illegal immigrants
By Jason Hancock 2/5/10 8:27 AM
U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, is challenging the president to look at his plan to tackle growing unemployment, which more or less comes down to going after undocumented immigrants.
In an Op-Ed published on his Web site, King said his idea would “level the playing field for law-abiding American employers and employees.” His plan is to “clarify” that wages and benefits paid to undocumented immigrants are not deductible for federal income tax purposes. He would also mandate use of “E-Verify,” an Internet-based system that allows an employer, using information reported on an employee’s Form I-9, to determine the eligibility of that employee to work in the United States. He would grant employers “safe harbor” if they discovered they had inadvertently hired someone illegally.
“President Obama and liberals in Congress continue to promote amnesty while overlooking the impact that illegal workers have on American unemployment,” King said. “Immigration laws protect American citizens, including legal immigrants, from losing jobs to those who have entered our country illegally. We must enforce our immigration laws and allow a sustainable number of legal immigrants into the country each year.”
King said there are 15 million unemployed Americans and 8 million undocumented workers holding “American jobs.” That figure is “mostly true,” according to the Pulitzer Prize winning staff of Politifact. The 8 million workers number is 20 months old, coming from research done when the number of unemployed nationally stood at 5.1 percent. That figure skyrocketed to 10 percent by December 2009. The researcher who did the research cited by King said the unemployment rate for immigrants, without regard to their citizenship status, has gone up faster than that of natives.
http://iowaindependent.com/27193/kin...gal-immigrants