Emmer: Businesses should verify applicants' citizenship

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer says he'd like to require businesses to verify job applicants' immigration status before they hire them.

During an appearance on Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning, Emmer said he has proposed employers use the federal E-verify system to check citizenship status. The state currently requires contractors that do business with the state to use the system.

Emmer said the idea would help the country make progress on immigration.

"When the federal government is not going to adjust the laws, is not going to make the case for clear paths to citizenship for people who want to enter this country ... we have to take it upon ourselves in Minnesota to figure out what we can do as a state to ensure that people have a pathway to citizenship," he said.

Emmer has said in the past that a new Arizona immigration law is a "good start." That law allows police to ask people they've stopped for other reasons about their immigration status if they have a "reasonable suspicion" they're in the country illegally.