Last June I observed in  If Lou Barletta Opposes Lamar Smith's E-Verify Bill - Then So Do I

…this bill could be a surreptitious Slave Power protection measure. It boils down to whom does one trust, Lou Barletta, than whom no more proven champion of effective enforcement exists, or Lamar Smith?

The bill, HR 2885- the “Legal Workforce Act”- has cleared the House Judiciary Committee with no important amendments.

Barletta has now repeated his assessment in a well-written column The ‘Legal Workforce Act’ Undermines States’ Rights, Must be Defeated Sunshine State News October 15, 2011

Illustrating with egregious examples from his own district the fact that under Obama  Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have simply stopped enforcing federal immigration law, he argues:

…HR 2885 is a good bill gone bad….

Buried in the bill is a clause that says that states and local jurisdictions can act against businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens — after the federal government acts against them.

If the federal government doesn’t act against those businesses, states and municipalities can’t.

HR 2885 will actually block states and municipalities from enforcing their own laws punishing businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens.

As someone at the forefront of the illegal immigration battle, I don’t trust the federal government to do its duty and enforce a new immigration law.

(My emphasis)

Barletta appears to lean to the view that the main purpose of HR 2885 is to block local enforcement, and that the E-Verify aspect is just camouflage. He suggests that the

"…pre-emption of state and local laws…clause was added to satisfy the demands of special interest groups that don’t want to see serious immigration enforcement. Those groups know that HR 2885 is another immigration law that will not be enforced.

These groups also know that states and local jurisdictions will enforce their own laws. After all, states and local jurisdictions bear the brunt of an $80-billion-a-year burden every year"

Given the peculiar recent behavior of the Republican leadership on immigration issues, I agree.

Our valued friends at NumbersUSA are in favor of HR 2885. I think that after so many years of being derided losers Inside-the-Beltway, the prospect of any sort of victory has turned their heads.

In a related matter, it speaks volumes for the politicized management of the MSM that this essay from an authoritative voice on the issue had to be published in what appears to be a samizdat Florida webzine. Why not the Wall Street Journal (LOL)?

There was a time (a generation ago) when the WSJ really was a forum for conservative discussion, and not just a Neocon serf-management instrument.

H/T One Old Vet