Kaus On An NPR Sob Story

By James Fulford

10/07/2007

Mickey Kaus has an item about a momentary failure of the E-Verify program, which was quickly fixed.
Here’s an anguished NPR report on a victim of the highly-touted "E-Verify" system for checking the immigration status of employees. It seems Fernando Tinoco, an American citizen, "thought he was living the American dream." But at a new job he got a "tentative non-confirmation" for his Social Security number. Two hours after being hired he was fired. And then … he "cleared up the problem" … and then he got his job back. … So what’s the big difficulty? He was … humiliated! Yes, that’s the ticket. Though he doesn’t sound very humiliated in this report — despite the egging-on of the NPR reporter ("They thought you were illegal. … Criminal! But you're an American." … "Yes. We're in America, yes.") … Remember: This is the best case NPR and the legal rights groups that feed it could come up with. … P.S.: Aren’t honest, law-abiding people humiliated by data base errors all the time — like when credit cards are wrongly turned down, etc.? Is that a reason for blocking what even comprehensivists tout as the most important immigration enforcement tool around? It is if you want to block immigration enforcement, I guess. … P.P.S.: Illinois has attempted to stop "E-verify" with a law whose "bipartisan" backing NPR pretends to be impressed by. Why, it was supported by "immigrant rights groups and and by mainstream business groups like the Illinois Chamber of Commerce." I mean, who else could there be in the immigration debate? … Prius, the Silent Killer! — By Mickey Kaus — Slate Magazine

Of course, from a pure economic point of view, a guy named Fernando Tinoco is likely to harmed worse by Mexican illegal immigrants competing for his job than I am. According to the Washington Post, he works for Tyson Foods, a major illegal employer. But there’s something more than economics involved here.

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