Jim Sensenbrenner: “Halloween is coming up, and I am afraid that the argument used by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) is designed to…”

“Halloween is coming up, and I am afraid that the argument used by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) is designed to scare people into doing something that this bill does not do. First of all, the bill creates no new databases. The basic pilot program relies on both the Social Security Administration and INS database, and there is nothing added to these databases by this bill whatsoever. Secondly, the bill does expand this voluntary program nationwide so that employers in other States may volunteer to participate in the verification of employment eligibility. Because the problem of illegal aliens taking jobs away from Americans is a problem that exists in more than the 45 States that are not covered by this program, there is nothing wrong with giving these employers the opportunity to volunteer to participate in the program. Thirdly, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) seems to argue against this legislation in that it will allow government agencies to be able to find out the employment and Social Security status and immigration status of people whose names are in an existing database.”