Illegal Immigrants Will Get Stimulus Jobs

One big beneficiary of President Obama’s stimulus bill will be illegal immigrants. It’s estimated that tens of thousands of jobs created by the economic stimulus plan would be filled by illegal immigrants, particularly in California and Texas, where illegal immigrants make up a large portion of the construction industry.

---

Studies predict illegal immigrants living and working in the U.S. could take up to 300,000 construction specific jobs, or 15 percent of the two million jobs the new taxpayer-financed bill will create. The House version of the $787 billion stimulus package originally required anyone who would receive employment benefits to have their legal residency verified. However, that provision was removed from the final piece of legislation. According to Steve Camarota, Director of Research for the Center for Immigration Studies, the resident verification condition was deleted by Democrat leaders of Congress before the bill ever made it to committee. Specifically, the condition that was removed would have required the identities of those individuals seeking employment benefits from the stimulus package to be vetted through an internet based E-Verifying system. This system is a quick way to reference eligibility from the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. “E-Verify is our most effective tool for preventing illegal immigrants from getting jobs, and they chose not to use it,” said Camarota

---