In the waning days of the this session, Congress passed the Continuing Resolution (H.R. 2638). This was necessary to keep the government running because due to their incompetence they haven\’t done a damn thing in months, including passing any 2009 fiscal bills. And extension of E-Verify until March 6th, 2009 was included in that Continuing Resolution. So E-Verify and therefore attempts to counter illegal immigration will survive for a few more months at least.
The bigger problem is that the next battle for E-Verify could very likely take place in a Congress of unknown political makeup and under a President who will almost certainly be less than willing to extend the program. Regardless of who wins this Presidential Election, we will have a President very hostile to border enforcement.
Actually an Obama presidency would be better for border enforcement than a McCain presidency. With McCain as president, Republicans in Congress will feel it necessary to go along with McCain\’s very well established pro-amnesty tendencies. And just like last times Democrats will go along with it because amnesty works in their favor. With an Obama presidency, Republicans will fight for E-Verify and against any attempts at amnesty for no other reason than it\’s what Obama wants. Either way it\’s a shitty environment to fight for the survival of one of the best tools we have against illegal immigration.
Our best bet for E-Verify is for the Senate to pass HR 6633, which has already passed the House. To do that they have to deal with the hold that Senator Menendez. Which means Harry Reid either tells Menendez to get bent and ignores the hold, or else he needs to grow a backbone and tell Menendez he\’s a damn moron and to remove his hold.
No matter how the hand is dealt, while we have E-Verify for a few months more, the horizon is looking rather dim.