George Bush: Proudly Enforcing the Laws After 6 1/2 Years

Suddenly the President's a workplace enforcer.

The administration unveiled a series of tough border control and employer enforcement measures designed to make up for security provisions that failed when Congress rejected a broad rewrite of the nation’s immigration laws in June.

The package revealed Friday has 26 elements, and the administration announcement said they "represent steps the Administration can take within the boundaries of existing law to secure our borders more effectively, improve interior and worksite enforcement, streamline existing guest worker programs, improve the current immigration system, and help new immigrants assimilate into American culture.

The border enforcement stuff is nothing new, and will simply increase the number of tourists overstaying visas. But the workplace enforcement rules, most of them already on the books, represent a new focus:

Employers will face tough new scrutiny and requirements. “There are now 29 categories of documents that employers must accept to establish identity and work eligibility among their workers,” the summary says. “The Department of Homeland Security will reduce that number and weed out the most insecure.”

“The Department of Homeland Security will raise the civil fines imposed on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants by approximately 25 percent,” the summary continues. “The administration will continue its aggressive expansion of criminal investigations against employers who knowingly hire large numbers of illegal aliens.”

You could have done so much of this without changing any of these laws. What Steve Soto said.

It’s a valid question why after seven years the Bush Administration is just now:

1. Forcing employers to fire employees who use false Social Security numbers;

2. Fully implementing a 1996 law on an exit-control system;

3. Forcing employers to comply with a 1986 law requiring eligibility verification from job applicants;

4. Stepping up the arrest and deportation of illegal immigrant street gang members;

5. Using federal agents across the country to hunt down “alien fugitives;”

6. Expanding its training of local law enforcement on immigration laws.

Why do I get the feeling that this tough talk will not be backed up with action?