Illegal immigrants are supposedly a grave threat to our economic security. But the graver threat, say mainstream Republicans, is imposing any regulations that might hold employers accountable for hiring those illegal immigrants.
House Bill 1209 was the whackdoodle caucus’s attempt to require every employer in South Dakota to use the federal government’s E-Verify to check every employee’s eligibility to work in the U.S. 23 other states had such a requirement as of last summer.
Originally, HB 1209’s only enforcement mechanism was to deny state subsidies to any business that declined to use E-Verify. HB 1209 focused any criminal punishment on employees, making submission of false documents to an employer a Class 1 misdemeanor.
House State Affairs decided to replace the economic incentives ban with the prospect of investigation by the Attorney General and a $2,000 civil penalty on employers for each violation. Hmm… loss of hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars worth of GOED loans and grants versus $2,000 for not checking an employee’s papers with Uncle Sam? That sounds like watering down the penalty.
Senate State Affairs watered HB 1209 down further, making exceptions for times when E-Verify isn’t online (like during government shutdowns), regular good-faith compliance, and violations committed by third parties. Senate State Affairs exempted employers with 50 or fewer people on staff and gave employers 20 days from the date of hire to check each new hire’s eligibility. Senate State Affairs also required the Attorney General to get a note from the feds—either Homeland Security or Justice—confirming a violation before seeking any fine from an employer.
Each version passed its respective chamber, requiring a conference committee. That six-member group tightened HB 1209’s requirements, expanding the E-Verify requirement to businesses with more than 25 employees and giving them only ten days to check each new hire. The conference committee took the feds out of the A.G.’s penalty process. Prime sponsor rookie Representative Josephine Garcia (R-5/Watertown) mustered three other votes yesterday for that version from the split conference committee, but the full Senate rejected the much amended HB 1209 on an 18–15 vote. The Republicans present split in half, 15 mostly mainstreamers for killing the E-Verify requirement, 15 mostly radical Trumpists for keeping the bill alive. The three Democratic Senators all voted to kill HB 1209.
I can understand Democrats resisting any of the anti-immigrant grandstanding committed by the brownshirts across the aisle. But the Republicans who voted against HB 1209 handed the Trumpy insurgents in their party one more RINO (or is it now TINO—Trumpist In Name Only?) cry to lodge in whatever primaries may shape up in the Senate races.