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Stopping Illegal Immigration Starts at the Worksite

by Rep. Steve King Posted Nov 4, 2005

Attention Americans, including those in the big white house: The U.S. has an illegal immigration problem.

Three million illegal aliens pour across our Southern border every year. Front-line Border Patrol agents estimate they are only 25% to 33% successful. Last year their efforts resulted in intercepting 1,159,000 illegal aliens. Of those, only 1,640 were adjudicated for deportation and removed. The rest "promised" to return on their own. This means that for every illegal alien apprehended, about two to three more slip across the border, and of those apprehended, most stay in America. What other profession allows a 33% success rate? Certainly not doctors, accountants, cashiers or even lawyers. Why do we allow our federal government to do its job only a third of the time?

Thankfully, our lack of immigration enforcement is finally at the center of the national debate. There are more than enough proposals for the public to digest. Most of them, however, reward immigration lawbreakers with amnesty.

Americans are conditioned to believe that illegal aliens support our workforce, because they take jobs Americans will not do and accept wages Americans will refuse. The reality is, when employers are faced with the decision to hire a legal worker over an illegal worker, it has become a rational decision to hire the illegal.

We do have laws to reduce the problems that stem from illegal immigration-they just aren't enforced. Although it is illegal in this country to hire illegal workers, the federal government did not sanction a single employer for hiring illegal workers in all of last year. Legislation I introduced this summer, the New Illegal Deduction Elimination Act, or New IDEA, would eliminate the tax deduction employers can take on wages and benefits paid to illegal workers. This policy protects the wages of legal workers and helps the government actually enforce our current laws.

New IDEA

Under New IDEA, if an employer knowingly hires a $10-per-hour illegal worker over a $15-per-hour legal worker, the deductions for wages and benefits to illegals will be denied in an IRS audit, resulting in a tax liability for the employer. The tax liability plus interest and penalty raises the cost of the illegal worker to $16 per hour. At this point, it becomes a rational decision to verify legal status and hire the legal worker.

How do employers hire the right people and not get duped by fake green cards and false Social Security numbers? They can check it right now, instantly, through the Basic Pilot Program, an existing Internet-based program that verifies legal status instantly by searching the Social Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security databases. If employers use this system to verify legal status when hiring workers, they are given safe harbor under New IDEA.

It is clear that employer sanctions are not working, so it's time to try something new. New IDEA makes our immigration laws enforceable and removes the jobs magnet that draws illegal aliens to the U.S. to work in violation of our laws. It's simple. If you hire illegal workers, you won't be able to deduct their wages as an expense on your taxes. There is also a six-year statute of limitations, so the risk of penalty window stays open.

Securing America's future is our responsibility now. If we allow the current situation to persist, the future of our national, domestic and economic security is seriously at risk. As current policy and enforcement exist today, the American people have lost control of their right and duty to establish national immigration policy and to shape our national destiny.

The Year 2006 is an election year. After watching all the Democrats over the past few days talk of granting rights to illegal aliens I got a brainstorm of an idea: put some illegals on the ballot against them.

We could do it in New York against Senator Hillary Clinton and in San Francisco against Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Since no Republican will ever carry either place we could put them on the Republican ticket.

What would the Dems say against this? That the people they're against are illegal? They want "rights" for these people. Isn't one right the ability to run for office? If the left raises a big stink, we'll just accuse them of racist, sexist, homophobia. We'll have our candidate recount tales of his family wandering the desert bare foot through cacti.

I'd really love to see what the Dems would say. Our candidate could even promise to work for half the salary of a Congressman (dare I say, do the work for a wage no American would accept?) It's okay though - he'll never see the money drained away in income taxes (if Congress even pays them.) He'd be an illegal.

I can even tell you how to answer tough questions:

#1 What do you think of the war? I think it's good. Who cares if a bunch of Americans die, we won't be taken away for the fighting: we're not citizens.

#2 What do you think of Abortion? My Catholic upbringing says that I need to be against it. It's okay though - if I ever need one I'll go home to Mexico (where it's legal) for the weekend.

#3 What do you think of gun control? I don't care about it. I'm not a citizen, I'll carry a gun if I want too.

So there you have it. I urge all Americans living near these areas to go in and vote for our illegal candidate. So what if you'd break the law to do it? We never really liked those laws anyway.