b"sman: ReidRibble (R-WI)* * * the dangerous nature of the work. There is no evidence orthat data I am aware of that [the level of] drug use of native-born compares American citizens and immigrant Americans. There is an [drug overall] problem in the culture. Regarding immigration in its broad scope, e-Verify has gotten better. have Iheard from many roofing contractors who are now using e-Verify and, although it is an imperfect system,are adapting to it contractors pretty quickly. Ipretty proud of the industry for its abilitytoadapt its am hiring practices and use e-Verify.Itone oftools that is available isthose for checking immigration status at the front end.Itnot a isperfect system, but it is the best system that we have seen so far, and Iit think will continue to get better. But thatnot solve the broad immigration problems that the does country is facing. There is better security at the border than there was aago.Itstill imperfect, but the bulk number of illegal decadeis immigrants coming here to work is way, way down. Itbeen trending has downward since 2004. (Some will say it is only coming down because of the economy, but that is not true.Ittrending down priortothat was better because we are doing ajob with surveillance and border patrol) After we get athat we have the border secured as best as sense possible-you never can have it perfect-then the second phase is to begin to reform the legal immigration in athat [will affect] way industries like roofing and agriculture. Iin northeast Wisconsin, am one of the largest dairy districts in the United States. Dairy cows need to andworkforce be milked just about 24/7 up there,you need to find afor those farms. We need to address the legal mechanisms so that in times of high employment demand, we can open those gates wider. Third,have to decide what to do with those folks who are here we that came in illegally, some of whom have been here for decades. One of the reasons that we have not seen major immigration reform [for some time] is because they tried to do it in arather comprehensive cost to meet those regulations goes up, the ability to grow your businessthan away. Imuch prefer aapproach. If sequentialwouldsequential do goes down. The amount of money that is consumed with regulationsyou try to deal with this all at one time, Inot believe that you are like that is money that will not go to roofing work. Virtually any typegoing to get this passed through the.ifcan take it Congress Butyouin ofregulation that is out there-thatcomes tobite-size pieces, as Isuggesting, Iyou can get itne. majorexample justamthinkdomind-haseffect. There is only so much money in circulation that anMR:Are you aware ofinnovative approaches to hiring business owners can invest.any minority employees in the roofing industry? certainlylotfingspeak MR:Turning to immigration and hiring minority employees,Ihave aof friends in the roo industry and Ito MRCA members say they've run into problems with e-Verify,them often. They are still good friends of mine, as are roofing contracand with requiring photo identification and drug testing oftors in my own district. Ipleased with how the roofing industry is am minority employees'.' is immigration such a hot topic inprogressing.Itgoing to continue to be an American-driven industry Whyis roofing and in construction in general?with American-driven products.ItaAmerican success story in isgreat Coming from the roofing industry myself, Iaware that there areterms of what they are doing with recycling and using recycled materiam economyhighervalues, jobs in ourthat native-born Americans aren't particularlyals, going toRand providing sustainable construction interested in doing.i tbe difficult finding ain roofing,and energy-efficient buildings. Energy conservation is the future of canworkforce landscaping, agriculture, and some service industries.America, and the roofing industry is partbuilding envelope. We of that In terms of drug testing, it certainlyisaissue in the roofingare leading the way. big industry, where you have to have totally drug-free workers because ofcontinued on pa 12 ge Midwest Roofer- www.mrca.org11"