Immigration reform beyond border wall is needed (Rep. Jared Polis)

Yesterday the Senate voted to extend the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and to expand E-Verify, making this flawed employment verification system both mandatory and permanent for federal contractors. The American people don’t want to see political posturing. They want to see real, meaningful immigration reform.

These provisions attempt to enforce immigration laws without getting to the heart of the issue. In order to stop illegal immigration, we must first find a way to bring the 12 million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. Building a bigger wall at the US-Mexico border is going to spends millions of taxpayer dollars on an unpopular project and will not stop illegal immigration. Reforming our broken immigration system does.

Forcing federal contractors to implement a costly employment verification system isn’t going to stop illegal immigration. Instead, a mandatory E-Verify clause would force cash-strapped small businesses to make the painful decision between losing government contracts and spending millions of dollars on a flawed and expensive employment verification system.

It’s not that we shouldn’t talk about border security or employment verification—we should! These are conversations we SHOULD have as a part of larger debate on comprehensive immigration reform, not as amendments to an appropriations bill. Instead of trying to act tough, members of Congress should be tough and reform our broken immigration system.