Ahead of a scheduled mark-up of H.R. 2885, a proposal that would mandate the use of the controversial E-Verify employment verification system by every employer in the country, small business owner David Borris, owner of Hel’s Kitchen Catering in Northbrook, IL spoke at a press event outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on September 14 opposing the plan. David is a leader in the Main Street Alliance network.
David urged the Chamber and members of Congress to take a stand against E-verify. “The balance sheet on E-verify is simple: it’s bad for small business, bad for our workforce, and bad for the country’s bottom line,” David said. “We urge the US Chamber and our members of Congress to hear our call, listen to small business, and oppose this flawed proposal.” Scroll down to read David’s complete remarks.
Meanwhile, leaders in the Main Street Alliance network from Maine to Colorado to Oregon submitted a letter to the House Judiciary Committee outlining the job-killing impact a mandatory E-Verify regime would have on small businesses, their workforce, and the economy. Click here for a copy of the letter.
Remarks of David Borris at Event Opposing Mandatory E-Verify in Washington, DC – September 14, 2011
My name is David Borris. I own a business called Hel’s Kitchen Catering in Northbrook, Illinois. I also serve on the Executive Committee of the Main Street Alliance, a national network of small business owners committed to speaking for ourselves on the important issues facing our businesses and our local economies.
My wife and I opened our business as a small, homemade food store in Highland Park in 1985. Over the years, we’ve expanded into a full service catering company with 25 full time employees and another 80 part time and seasonal workers. Small businesses like ours are the backbone of local economies across the country. We create jobs, deliver important goods and services, drive local economies and give back to our communities.
I’m here today to urge the US Chamber of Commerce to take the blinders off and see what this E-Verify proposal would do to small businesses. To take the earplugs out and hear how mandatory E-Verify would harm small business owners all across America. To recognize that small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and we need all the support the chamber and others can give to blaze the trail back to prosperity in our local communities.
We face many challenges: diminishing consumer demand, inability to provide quality, affordable health care to our employees, lack of access to capital — all of these have conspired over the past 3 years to hold back the vibrant small business engine that should be fueling a strong recovery.
And while the Chamber has taken strident positions recently against new rules of the road that would actually help level the playing field for small business — in health care, in the financial industry, in tax reform — today they are inexplicably silent when Washington DC is talking about requiring every business owner in America to suit up as an immigration and customs enforcement agent.
Make no mistake, our immigration system is broken and that broken system is hurting small businesses, local economies, and the country. But as we’ve already heard today, taking the flawed E-Verify system and making it mandatory is not the solution.
Small businesses are doing everything we can to innovate, recreate, and delineate new roles in a rapidly changing business environment. All the while doing what we must to trim costs without laying off valued workers- many of whom are like family to us. Mandating E-Verify would create a whole new set of challenges for us.
The support of some in Congress for E-Verify exposes a blatant double standard. We’ve grown used to seeing some members of Congress use the good name of small business as a smokescreen to attack basic rules and standards. We’re talking about things like clean air rules that actually help small businesses by promoting a healthy workforce and cutting our health care costs.
Now, these same politicians are pushing for an E-Verify regime that – unlike those other rules they like to complain about – will actually have a direct negative impact on small businesses. This E-Verify proposal will be a good litmus test – it’s going to show us who’s serious about standing up for small business, and who only pays lip service to us when it’s convenient to advance the agenda of their big corporate donors.
The US Chamber claims to represent businesses large and small across the country. The Chamber has an obligation to listen to the small businesses – and speak out on our behalf. The problems of illegal immigration will not be dented one iota if e-verify is mandated – but small businesses across this great nation will suffer while struggling to comply.
The balance sheet for us on E-verify? It’s bad for small business, bad for our workforce, and bad for the country’s bottom line. We need the US Chamber to hear our call, listen to small business, and withdraw its support for this flawed proposal.
We urge the Chamber to stop nibbling around the margins, stop accepting a piecemeal non-solution that will so negatively impact small business. We urge the Chamber to join the growing chorus of business owners and demand that our elected officials say no to E-Verify and find the courage to re-engage the debate on Comprehensive Immigration Reform.