Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant on the immigration bill

Gov. Haley Barbour signed Senate Bill 2988 into law on Monday. The controversial bill, which was recently passed in the Legislature, would require employers to verify that a potential hire is a legal U.S. citizen before they are put to work. I wrote about it in today's Sun Herald, but I didn't have the comments from the lieutenant governor yesterday when I filed the story.

Opponents of the bill, which include the Mississippi Manufacturers Association and immigrants' rights groups, said the plan puts too much of a burden on the employers to use the system, which has some problems, and it also punishes those workers who are only trying to seek a better life for themselves and their families.

The bill was authored by first year legislator Sen. Michael Watson, R-Pascagoula. On having his first major bill signed into law yesterday, Watson said he was "pumped." Fellow Pascagoula legislator, Rep. Brandon Jones, D-Pascagoula, made the presentation of the bill in the House. Jones and Watson are old friends, though they belong to different parties.

On Senate Bill 2988 passing Bryant said:

“I appreciate the Governor’s signing Senate Bill 2988, considered to be the most comprehensive illegal immigration reform in Mississippi’s history. The hard work of many people, including freshmen Senator and principal author Michael Watson, is to be commended in this long fought effort.

We believe E-Verify, the system mandated in the law, is a valuable tool to protect law abiding employers and the American worker. In fact, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security now refers to the E-Verify system as, ‘…the best means available for employers to verify electronically the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees.’ In addition, the Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Emilio Gonzalez, stated last month that, ‘This program is proving to be a key component in promoting the integrity of the employment verification process of our workers’ (USCIS 2/08). However, I am sensitive to the Governor’s concerns regarding the need for clarifying language in this bill and have agreed to work in future sessions to address his recommendations.

Once again I thank Gov. Barbour for his courageous and consistent leadership in signing the Mississippi Employment Act of 2008.”