Speaking about America's unemployment problem on November 2, 2009, President Obama expressed a desire for new ideas on how to create good-paying jobs. The President stated that "if somebody can show me a strategy that's going to work, then we are happy to consider it."

The Strategic Issues Panel on Immigration consulted people in government, business, labor, law enforcement, education and other fields in developing the recommendations. Immigration advocates and opponents, community organizers, business executives and immigration lawyers also weighed in.

Agencies across the federal government Tuesday will start ordering contractors to use an electronic immigration system to verify the legal status of their roughly 3.8 million workers, barring an emergency stay from a federal appeals court in Virginia.

The sweeping new mandate, crafted by the Bush White House but being implemented by the Obama administration, represents a significant expansion for the so-called E-Verify system, which government officials and independent experts expect to become mandatory for all private employers nationwide in the future.

President Barack Obama has backed the sound effort to put illegal immigrants on a rather long road to permanent residency by establishing a "guest worker" program. They would not be given amnesty; instead, they would have to pay fines and fees and pass a background check just to receive a temporary visa. A program along these lines is clearly needed. But Obama also needs to demonstrate he is tough on security and those who continue to violate the law.

The Obama approach also toughens individual enforcement against illegal immigrants with criminal records, but takes a less stringent line with economic migrants and victims of abuse. In some cases, the Obama administration is pushing ahead with plans set under President George W. Bush -- such as putting into effect a mandate that all federal contractors and subcontractors use a government employment-verification system called E-Verify.

Beginning Sept. 8, the government will award contracts only to companies that enroll in E-Verify, an online program that uses federal databases to check whether employees are in the country legally and authorized to work. Businesses receiving money under the federal stimulus program also will be subjected to the rule, adopted under President George W. Bush but never implemented.

As the immigration reform debate begins to heat up again, some observers expect that one of the biggest and most controversial new elements will be a proposed national worker identification card for all Americans.

A voluntary electronic system to verify employees' immigration status, and thus their right to a job, expired Friday but is likely to be reauthorized by Congress as part of a budget bill due to come up for a vote this week.

A federal system that lets employers check the legal status of their workers is soaring in popularity across the country, growing by 1,000 companies a week, fueled by anxiety over workplace raids and uncertainty over the future of the nation's illegal immigrants.

An interview with Ted Ruthizer, Co-Head of the Business Immigration practice group at Kramer Levin.