In a recent episode of "The Megyn Kelly Show" on SiriusXM, the host Megyn Kelly proposed a solution to the United States' illegal immigration crisis.
She suggested that the Republican Party could resolve the issue "overnight" by implementing E-Verify, a free internet-based system that allows U.S. employers to confirm the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees. "If they really wanted these illegals out, they would implement E-Verify, and we would get millions of them out like that overnight," Kelly stated.
As reported by the Daily Caller, Kelly's comments came in the wake of President Donald Trump's decision to expand his immigration crackdown, which included dispatching Border Patrol troops to Chicago. Kelly, in conversation with journalist Michael Shellenberger, expressed her belief that a significant portion of the Republican Party would oppose her proposed solution.
She attributed this resistance to the party's ties to businesses and farms that allegedly employ illegal immigrants. "But they wont do it because the Republican Party is still half run by the Chamber of Commerce Republicans who hire all these illegals on their businesses and their farms and what have you. And they really dont want to see Trump do that," Kelly explained.
The E-Verify system, which Kelly advocates for, was born out of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) passed by Congress in 1996. The Act mandated the Social Security Administration and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to conduct an employment verification pilot program.
Today, states such as Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, and Mississippi require E-Verify for most public and private employers. However, other states like California, Illinois, and Nevada either lack statewide requirements or have passed laws prohibiting mandatory use of the system.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports that since Trump took office in January, 2 million illegal immigrants have either been deported from the United States or self-deported.
"The Trump administration is on pace to shatter historic records and deport nearly 600,000 illegal aliens by the end of President Donald Trumps first year since returning to office. Two million illegal aliens have left the United States in less than 250 days, including an estimated 1.6 million who have voluntarily self-deported and more than 400,000 deportations," a press release from the DHS states.
In addition to the expanded immigration crackdown, Trump has increased the number of agents in Democratic-led cities like Chicago, raising concerns among Republicans about the safety of Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation, attributed the increased assaults on ICE law enforcement officers to "dangerous rhetoric."
Trump administration officials, including border czar Tom Homan and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, have criticized Democrats for their rhetoric against ICE agents. High-profile Democrats, such as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, have drawn sharp criticism for their inflammatory comparisons of ICE to a "modern-day Gestapo" and "slave patrols," respectively.
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