there are a lot of alarmists posts about the immigration bill floating around the blogosphere right now. but ian welsh at the agonist has a really good point. the bill would bar employment of anyone who isn't listed as a legal worker with the department of homeland security and penalize employers who don't check with the DHS's employment eligibility verification system database before they hire anyone.
as ian points out this effectively creates a "do not work" list.1--like the infamous "do not fly" list that is also maintained by the DHS and is plagued with inaccuracies and outright abuses. needless to say being unable to work is a lot more serious than being unable to fly.
both lists would have the same flaw, there is no appeal process that would permit someone incorrectly classified to remedy the problem. the immigration bill's bar on judicial review would mean that a simply glitch could render you completely unemployable with no way to ever fix it.
the conservative movement has long been both suspicious of the federal judiciary and had great faith in the ability of the federal administrative bureaucracy to screw things up. but often the judiciary is the only branch that can correct the bureaucracy's fuck-ups. barring judicial review may be in vogue, but in practice it only make bureaucratic mistakes more intractable. true conservatives who believe in the inefficiency of government would demand that any government decision be subject to review.
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1- okay, i guess technically it would create a "do work" list, as the description makes it seem that it is only if you are absent from the EEVS database would you be barred from work. but in the end it's really the same basic concept. your presence or absence on a government maintained list determines whether you can legally work.
