Good Morning Mayor Winder,
As one who has been helping to gather signatures for the Salt Lake County and West Valley City Lawful Employment Ordinance, I would like to ask you to make e-verify mandatory for employers, not an option.
There are thousands of stories that you could ask the volunteer signature gatherers to tell you about how people are rushing to sign the Lawful Employment Ordinance.
Stories about how citizens who are in the U.S. LEGALLY can't get jobs.
Stories about subcontractors who are being underbid by people are in the U. S. ILLEGALLY and so they can't get the jobs.
Stories about contractors who have lost business because they can't compete with the contractors who hire illegal aliens. I've met general contractors who have voluntarily given up their business license-because they cannot compete and they refuse to sell out the U. S. by hiring people who are in this country illegally.
Stories about people who are currently working in government who verify that illegal aliens are receiving benefits that are meant for U. S. citizens.
Stories from grand parents who are concerned about their grand children.
Stories about citizens living next to people who are most likely illegal aliens with many families living in the same house and who are not held to the restrictive covenants of their neighborhood. (Read between the lines here, cars parked on the lawn, loud music playing, parties all hours of the night, etc.) This causes property values to go down.
Because several families are allowed to live in one house; that is another reason that people who obey the laws of the land are unable to compete with those are NOT obeying the laws of the land.
Oh, there are literally thousands of heartbreaking stories similar to this.
These people have hope in their eyes when they see us out there gathering signatures and a chance to make a difference with their signature.
Interestingly enough--The Compact, which has been widely advertised on TV, radio, major talk show celebrities, full-page newspaper advertisements, with high profile people and organizations endorsing it, has only managed to gather close to 5,000 signatures in a year. Read The Compact here. And these people can sign the petition on-line without any proof of who they are. There are also people from out-of-state who have signed this petition.
Contrast that to the volunteers with the Lawful Employment Ordinance who stand outside in extreme temperatures and who must ask every person for their signature; has in a few months time garnered thousands more signatures than the Compact. And that's without any free TV, radio, or newspaper advertising. That has been accomplished by citizens who care about the future of our state. This is grass roots activism at its finest. These are the types of citizens who make the USA the greatest country in the world.
Read the Lawful Employment Ordinance here. It's all about jobs. To make our country strong, it is vital to get U. S. citizens working.
Requiring employers to use e-verify also helps to discover identity theft. I read stories in the news every day about people who use other people's identity to get a job. Sadly, most of the stories from the past year have originated from West Valley City.
Legal immigrants to the U.S. made the USA the greatest nation in the world. Those are the immigrants who came here and learned English, integrated into society, and worked hard and didn't receive or expect handouts. They also didn't steal people's identities to get a job here.
Please, vote to make e-verify mandatory. Better yet, follow the example of Washington County and vote to implement the Lawful Employment Ordinance into law.
Best Regards and Merry Christmas!
Janalee Tobias
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