Re: "Follow Hawaii," Diane L. Trembly, June 1. Ms. Trembly writes that she lived and was employed in Hawaii for 25 years and Hawaiian employers require two proofs of citizenship for every job applicant and she asks why the other 49 states can’t do the same thing. Actually, non-U.S. citizens with legitimate "green cards" and Social Security numbers are legal workers.
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 requires all employers, without exception, to have "all" job applicants (U.S. citizens and non-U.S. citizens) complete Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification. The purpose of this form is to document that each new employee hired after Nov. 6, 1986, is authorized to work in the U.S.
It’s not a complicated form, but it requires various types of identification documents. I suspect that many employers don’t even know about this form or the regulation because, like many other existing laws and regulations, it has not been enforced by the executive branch of government.
If the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had sufficient resources to enforce this law, it would virtually solve the "undocumented" labor issue. Illegal immigrants would go home and others would be discouraged from coming.
No work, no undocumented workers.
Multimillion dollar fences and complex technology that don’t work much of the time would not be needed on the border.
MARTIN HARRIS
Cape Coral
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