I had a home built in Olympia, WA not that long ago. My home was built by local contactors, who did everything from foundation, to framing, drywall, painting and tilework.
I moved to Austin, and had a home built here as well. Here, a vast majority of the workers who did the cement work, framing, drywall, painting, tilework, ect did not speak english. I do have questions as to their legal status.
Here's the kicker. The size and style of the houses were similar; and when you remove the cost of the land, the cost of each house was about the same.
The difference is that, *if* illegals work cheaper than legal citizens, the contractor is making extra profits. We do not need illegals for our economy any more than our economy demanded slavery nearly 200 years ago.
It doesn't seem to me that it would be very difficult, or much of an invasion of privacy, to utilize the Social Security Database to check on whether a job applicant is here illegally. The applicant could be asked to provide the Soc Sec Number, along with his name and date of birth. The prospective employer could then enter the data online, and get a one-word answer--"Verified" or "Unverified."
This would get rid of all fraud which consists of made-up nine-digit numbers, and a good deal of the fraud related to stolen cards. The employer could keep a printout of the "Verified" ID as proof of compliance. If the illegal has an ID good enough to fool the Social Security Database, the employer would not be held liable, provided that the date of birth information was reasonably consistent with the applicant's appearance.
