Wes Hickman (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON-  U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today welcomed the Bush administration’s announcement of a new offensive in the fight against illegal immigration.  The Department of Homeland Security today announced new rules that will help authorities combat illegal immigration and go after companies that hire illegal aliens.  Among the provisions is an effort to crackdown on the use of fake Social Security by requiring companies to fire employees who use such numbers to gain employment.

 

Graham said:

 

“I applaud the administration’s effort to crackdown on illegal immigration, especially the use of fake Social Security numbers by illegals to gain employment in the United States .  This problem is rampant in our country, and further proof we need a tamper-proof, biometric Social Security card.  I would like to encourage the administration to go one step further and significantly strengthen the documents workers must use to establish eligibility for employment.

 

“I hope Congress will understand that many sectors of our economy have labor shortages and need additional programs to provide a legal labor supply.  Also, a growing number of state and local jurisdictions are passing immigration laws that will make it hard to do business in our country.

 

“In light of these developments, I hope Congress will re-engage on the issue of immigration reform because we need to provide national solutions and remedies to our broken immigration system.”

 

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