Migrants decry new US legislation
Like thousands of undocumented people across the US, Alicia Torres waits apprehensively as a new bill which she thinks will lead to racial profiling and employment discrimination sits on the North Carolina governor’s desk waiting for the stamp of approval.
Immigration policy is generally considered to be a federal responsibility in the US, but North Carolina is the latest state to make its own rules.
House Bill 36, which has been passed by North Carolina’s state congress and senate, will institute an E-Verify system, demanding some employers match social security numbers against the names of people they hire.
Critics like Torres say the computerised system is based on unreliable data and its implementation will make it harder for immigrants to find work, as business won’t want to risk the trouble or oversight of hiring people of colour or those whose English isn’t perfect…
