Federal immigration policy must be reformed to strengthen the American economy and enhance national security without placing ineffective and costly obligations on employers. Meaningful reform must discourage illegal immigration by including each of the following components:

1. A federally administered electronic/telephonic employment verification system that accurately and efficiently confirms an individual's legal status to work in the U.S.;
2. A rational approach to documenting the estimated more than 12 million individuals that currently reside in this country without proper documentation;
3. A responsive guest worker program that would allow certain employers to hire qualified foreign individuals when other workers are unavailable;
4. An improved border protection system; and
5. A provision to preempt state and local immigration-related measures by expressly reserving for the federal government the authority to create and implement immigration policy, including measures that deal with residential leases and employment screening.

Background

A coalition of business leaders, labor advocates and other stakeholders interested in the economic and workforce implications of our nation's immigration policies and procedures have advocated meaningful comprehensive reform for a decade. In recent years, the issue has moved to center stage in Congress and has gained a high level of public attention.

In May and June 2007, the Senate debated for several weeks an intricately negotiated compromise bill agreed to by a bipartisan group of 12 senators. The Senate bill faced an uphill battle, as it came under attack from both Republicans and Democrats. That opposition led to the doom of the accord on June 28 when the Senate fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to end debate on the measure and move to a vote. A comprehensive bill (H.R. 1645) was also introduced in the House of Representatives in March 2007, but it was not considered.

Unable to pass comprehensive reform that addresses the fundamental failures of the overall system, Congress has now turned its attention to several piecemeal bills that focus only on enforcement issues. Of particular concern to the apartment industry and many other industry sectors are the many proposals that would require all employers-regardless of revenue or number of employees-to use the federal government's E-Verify (formerly called Basic Pilot) program. This web-based system was designed to electronically verify the employment eligibility of an individual by checking submitted Social Security numbers, Alien Registration numbers and I-94 numbers against Social Security Administration and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases. Unfortunately, E-Verify has an unacceptably high error rate. In its current form, it also does nothing to ensure the authenticity of the documents employees use to establish their identity.

The vast majority of businesses want to obey the law and support the idea of a federally administered database to electronically verify the legal status of employees. However, employers should not be required to participate in it without first ensuring its accuracy and improving its ability to authenticate supporting documentation.

Even without legislation mandating participation, the Administration has enacted regulations, known as the "No-Match Rules," that would impose criminal and civil sanctions on employers who do not terminate workers with Social Security numbers that do not match government records regardless of an employee's actual legal status. At this time, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for Northern California has blocked enforcement of the regulation because of his strong concerns over the financial costs the regulations would impose on employers and because the measure would put many employees with proper work authorization at risk for losing their jobs.

Apartment owners are particularly concerned about the failure of Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform because that inaction has encouraged state and local governments to pass draconian measures that, if enforced, would NMHC/NAA Joint Legislative Program

require apartment owners to act as de facto immigration police. In most cases, these laws would bar apartment owners from renting to undocumented individuals and require them to screen all prospective or even current residents for their immigration status. Without Congressional action, it is expected that state and municipal governments will continue to approve these measures, which are extremely problematic on legal and practical grounds.

Immigration and citizenship rules are federal responsibilities with national security and economic implications that should be handled by the federal government. Therefore, legislation must include a provision reserving for the federal government the exclusive authority to create immigration policy, including a preemption of state and local government measures.

Current Status
The most recent piecemeal immigration reform measure was introduced in the House on November 6 by Representative Heath Shuler (D-NC) and in the Senate on November 15 by Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR). Titled the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement (SAVE) Act (H.R. 4088, S. 2368), the measure would, among other things, require employers to use the flawed E-Verify system to retroactively screen employees for their legal status to work in this country. It would also boost border security, including additional personnel, equipment, and infrastructure.