Many Americans focus on the border when they consider the fight against illegal immigration. But some experts say the real battle should be in the workplace to stop the hiring of people without work visas. (Source)
That’s exactly right. Since the federal government refuses to do its job by enforcing immigration laws, rounding up and deporting illegal aliens, the private sector can do its part by running checks on applicants to find out whether they’re here illegally. Unfortunately there will always be unscrupulous employers whose intent is to hire illegal aliens:
Many businesses, however, oppose making the program mandatory because it would stop them from hiring illegal workers and force them to pay higher wages, said Maria Echeveste, an immigration expert and political consultant who worked as a deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House.
The Basic Pilot Program has been around for a while, but it’s going to take a critical mass of angry Americans to become even angrier before employers stop hiring illegal aliens. The rules are already in place.
The penalty for hiring illegal aliens ranges from $250 to $10,000 for each unauthorized alien, and the person or entity “which engages in a pattern or practice of violations of subsection (a)(1)(A) or (a)(2) shall be fined not more than $3,000 for each unauthorized alien with respect to whom such a violation occurs, imprisoned for not more than six months for the entire pattern or practice, or both, notwithstanding the provisions of any other Federal law relating to fine levels.†(Source)
Employers know the feds won’t enforce the law and they won’t have to pay the fines and/or go to jail. They’ll continue to break the law, and the vicious cycle won’t stop until we the people essentially revolt against a government which allows non-citizens to take jobs from citizens, break the educational and health care infrastructure, essentially force local and state government entities to require Spanish as an employee requirement, spread Third World diseases and conditions, and on and on.
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My experience with employers of illegal aliens is extremely limited. I had a small business with nine employees and we had no way of verifying social security numbers. We simply took the employment information given us and filed the taxes, withholding and worker’s compensation accordingly.
There was a “competitor” who used “contract labor.” Under this scheme, the labor works on his own terms and is paid a contracted price. The individual is supposed to take his own social security, withholding, etc.
I never found a state or federal agency that would raise a finger to make sure this “legal” practice was being carried out “legally.” I believe the “competitor” was just skipping the costs of hiring employees and that the “contracted” labor was taking cash and skipping the taxes.
I currently pay a man who brings his own equipment and takes care of my yard. He is from Mexico. I know he works for a major contractor who does all of the correct things. I know this because I prepared his tax return for him. But how would I know otherwise? He could produce all manner of phony documents as an independent contractor. Those “documents” are easily obtained from the “underground” market.
It is a real conundrum.
The interesting thing is that the standard of living in the U.S. would probably decline under such a plan. The sudden shock in gasoline prices is having a similar effect, reducing our descretionary spending as we devote more of our household budgets to that particular line item.
Would you give employers the option of paying “guest workers” less than the minimum wage? If not, be prepared to pay more for food, whether at the supermarket or at restaurants, more for lodging, and the ripple effect will cause you to pay more for many other items.
Beware of the unintended consequences.
I was just at a restaurant, and the manager, who I know, was pointing to some of his workers (all Mexican), telling me that “these guys have one social security number for this job, and another social security for another job, and they end up not paying taxes.” He was saying all this as if it was no big deal and was common knowledge, because we all know that this is standard practice. Everybody benefits, at least in that segment of socity. The rest of our society has to put up with the dirty residue.
There were illegals trying to get jobs at a local school district. They said they had to change their social security number for personal reasons. Riiiight. Of course the employers are hiring them, how else do you explain why all the people at Subway do not speak much English? And if you get an illegal in a managerial position, then all they will hire is other illegals. God forbid you’re a white person needing a job. Thanks for showing me the way, La Shawn.
Here’s an article for everyone to read: “Embracing Illegals:
Companies are getting hooked on the buying power of 11 million undocumented immigrants.”
http://biz.yahoo.com/special/illegal05_article1.html
In 1892 the SCOTUS made a descision on a case involving Holy Trinity Church having brought a pastor from England and paid his way over. It seems there was a law against employers paying the way to bring what was essentially slave labor into the American labor market. Now they don’t have to import them, just hire them when they get here but they are still chatel used for the same purpose. The employer holds all the cards and if you rock the boat you’ll be going home. LaShawn is right that employers and not the borders is a key and doing this with large employers might not be impossibly hard but when you get down to the guys with 10 or less employees it will be a nightmare. It will take a will of iron and determination to match to get this job done so my hopes aren’t too high. More likely we’ll get some feel good legislation in the hopes we’ll all forget about it.
How is forcing small business men and woman to be unpaid INS agents a good thing?
MJ- why do you think that illegals using incorrect social security numbers don’t pay taxes?
My understanding is that they get taxes withheld but never get their refunds since they aren’t really who their documents say they are. They probably end up paying a lot more taxes than citizens of similar income do.
Ours is a world economy, being a citizen of this world should allow you to work anywhere where your services are desired. Any one of us could have just as easily been born in a third world country. Railing against illegal aliens is another form of race/class-ism.
Why not punish public agencies that knowingly facilitate illegal immigration? In many California cities, just asking someone if he is a citizen can get you fired. Punish the banks that send money to Mexico without validating the status of the sender. Punish the lawyer who keeps illegals here. Punish the politicians who actively solicit the vote of illegals, starting with Roberta Sanchez. Make the illegal possession of a fake social security card a felony that bars you forever from entry into the United States.
We need to make these people legal so that they can avail themselves of wage and hour laws, workplace safety regulations and their right to organize. And then we should help to set up those rights in their home countries.
I agree you have to regulate this at the source, i.e. the companies that hire these illegals. I am not shopping at Wal-Mart because they instigate this issue. I live in N. California and a month ago I and my neighbors received a Wal-Mart back to school flyer. It was addressed to “resident” and was completely in Spanish. What a slap in the face – there is no hiding in California and it does no one any good. I emailed them, as did my neighbors, to say we will shop elsewhere.
We will reap what we sow in the name of cheap labor.
We’ve got a big problem in California. If a 9.0 earthquake hits (not “if” but when….) you’ve then got to make a choice. Do you save legal residents first?; or, is the crush of illegals to be rescued with the same priority? Very interesting to see how “Triage” will be done in that situation.
Is someone whose taxes have supported FEMA etc… entitled to priority rescue?, versus someone who’s contributed nothing tax-wise……?
As for the Employers who hire illegals: You won’t like this, but I say lower the minimum wage immediately. Give tax breaks to employers who can show 100% native born/native speaking/legal employees.
–Incentives.
No man, you rescue those in danger.
Unless you think being an american means your life is worth more than someone who is not.
Rescue them then help them get home.
To Walter E. Wallis, you said it, brother!
Meanwhile, legal immigrants such as my wife continue to get shafted by the Feds. It took 7 months (and help from our local Congressman) to get her Social Security number. We have yet to see her green card. Perhaps the paperwork has been lost again.
I have a theory that Osama bin Laden is really hiding out in Hollywood, California (where they luuuuv him), and the INS has lost his paperwork.
Mwalimu,
No, I heard Osama is hanging out at the 7 Eleven in Herndon with the other illegals
On a serious note, the more I think of the comment Vincente Fox said (about illegals doing the work Blacks won’t), in all actuality, a great a majority of that comment does not hold water. Case in point. When I moved to Northern VA in 1998, many of the companies that provided janitorial services to the big office buildings in Arlington that I would go to, were staffed by Blacks and Africans. Now these same buildings have contracts with companies that mainly employ “native spanish” speakers that speak very little english if any (this in no way means they are all illegal, just pointing out how the copmanies have changed). Now, some of them do a good job, some of them don’t (no different than what the other companies provided previously). What becomes clear is, a company employing illegals, can pay their employees LESS and therefore when they bid on a contract, they can greatly underbid their competitors (and still make a gross profit). La Shawn is DEAD on in saying that we should hold the businesses accountable and the penalties should be tough. As with anything, whenever someone messes up, others will be affected in some way shape or form (a normally not in a positive way).
Meanwhile, public health in this country is in shambles. The nation’s infrastructure is in a similar state of disrepair. Highways, damns, levees, ports are all falling apart… and not just in New Orleans. Ditto public education, or public anything for that matter – all looted to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and the occupation of countries that didn’t have anything to do with 9/11. Heck, the money spent so far on the Iraq misadventure is about 10 times the estimated cost of hurricane Katrina. Imagine 10 Katrina’s hitting the US!
The immigrants picking our vegetables are not to blame for the sorry state of affairs in this country. On the contrary: they are a pillar of the US economy, and do much to reinstill the work ethic in this country.
You know, back in December I was flying over Pensacola, Florida. From the air, as far as the eye could see were blue tarps spread over the roofs of houses and businesses – and this was months after hurricane Ivan hit. Debris – including refrigerators and other appliances – was still strewn all over the place. Everywhere that I inquired about why the rebuilding was so slow, I got the same answer: with 4 hurricanes having struck Florida that year, there was not enough labor available for all of the rebuilding that was needed. Where there was some reconstruction going on, you can guess who the workers were…
But you folks just go right ahead and keep obsessing over illegal immigrants who are supposedly destroying this country. What a convenient diversion that is from what is *really* destroying this country: the long-time neglect of this nation’s people and public infrastructure.
Hurricane Katrina has laid bare the consequences of our long-term failure to invest in our future.
Aaron: If you think that people here are “obsessing” only about “illegal immigrants who are supposedly destroying this country,” you haven’t read the archives or anyone’s blogs or articles. There are many things and ideas and people that are destroying this country, and to assume that people only care about one issue is not giving anyone credit for having a brain.
Holy Kraut, Aaron! You would be s-o-o-o-o much happier in a true socialist country. I suggest you be in the upper, upper class so you can fly to the US for health care.
Could you show me where in the US people are being tossed into the street without comprehensive and necessary medical attention?
Perhaps you could list (vis a vis anywhere else in the world) where the highways, dams, levees and ports in the US are falling apart.
Your vaunted “blue tarps” in Pensacola problem is an interesting conundrum. It so happens that the building boom in the US is so strong in this vibrant economy, that new construction outbids repair construction for the available labor.
Before you leap to an illogical conclusion, contractors in new construction do NOT risk their capitalistic necks by hiring illegal aliens. That is pure stupidity. So the “jack legs” are left to do the repair jobs. Reliable repair contractors have a legal workforce, because they can not bear the costs of messing with “curb labor.” Furthermore, insurance companies are particular about who does their claims work, because they do not want further claims against them.
Perhaps you should reexamine your rant.
Heliotrope:
” I suggest you be in the upper, upper class so you can fly to the US for health care.”
I’m not sure what your point is here. However, as you unwittingly reveal, the problem with health care in this country is precisely that: it is the best in the world… for the “upper, upper class”. For the working poor and, increasingly, for the middle class, healthcare is out of reach.
Sure, if you show up at the ER with an acute condition, hospitals must render care until you are stabilized. But there is no access to regular, preventative healthcare for tens of millions of Americans. You need only look at the health condition of the thousands of poor forced from their homes by Katrina – it was obvious that many suffered from the kinds of health problmes that plague underdeveloped countries, and that was *before* they were hit with the hurricane.
But I guess that is all the fault of illegal immigrants.
“Perhaps you could list (vis a vis anywhere else in the world) where the highways, dams, levees and ports in the US are falling apart.”
Are you serious? And do you really want to compare us to other countries? Have you driven lately? Have you been to a public school lately and seen the dilapidated state of the structures there? Have been to a government agency recently to see the vintage 1980 computers still in use?
A group of Dutch hydrologists toured the NO levee system recently, and reported that they were shocked by both how obsolete the technology was, and by their general state of disrepair. (As you know, most of the Netherlands is below sealevel). Do you really think this is only a problem in New Orleans?
But I guess that is all the fault of illegal immigrants.
“It so happens that the building boom in the US is so strong in this vibrant economy, that new construction outbids repair construction for the available labor.”
Interesting conundrum indeed. So how is it that on the one hand the economy is so vibrant that new construction is sucking up all the labor from repair construction, AND on the other hand, immigrants seeking such repair jobs are to blame for all that is wrong with America?
If a legit business hires illegals, how does it list salaries as expenses?
Probably as an outside service. If they were following the law, they would probably treat them as 1099 outside contractors, not employees.
Walter:
Businesses that hire illegals bury the costs in other expenses. 1099s require social security numbers too. But some illegals will use numbers because they know it will never be spotted until the following year.
As an employer I don’t like being put in jeopardy because I didn’t enforce the governments laws correctly. I also don’t want to get sued by a potential hire because the government said they were not a legal resident.
Aaron, it is the “illegal” in illegal immigrants that people have trouble with. It’s unfair to legal immigrants to give illegal ones a free pass – not to mention dangerous. If you don’t like the immigration laws, convince enough people to vote to change them.
Besides, if illegal aliens (and businesses who knowingly hire them) can break the law with impunity, why can’t the rest of us break laws we don’t like? Fair is fair!
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