Though the stimulus package racing through the house is unlikely to work, some Republicans are going a step further and seeking to ensure that it does lasting damage to our economy — and to the freedom of our society.


Amendments to the stimulus bill in committee last week include one to reauthorize “E‐​Verify,” the budding national identification and government background check system. Another would mandate the use of E‐​Verify by any business receiving stimulus money.


The growth of E‐​Verify would raise costs on business and make it harder for many law‐​abiding Americans to get work, draining energy from the economy at precisely the wrong time — not that there’s ever a good time.


I wrote about electronic employment verification programs like E‐​Verify in a paper called “Franz Kafka’s Solution to Illegal Immigration.”