(1) One of the reasons why illegals are here is that they work cheaper than minimum wage.
Even if there were 15 million, and even if 10 million had full-time jobs rather than just episodic day labor, the minimum wage would guarantee that much of that employment would simply evaporate.
(2) Imposing a tariff would immediately cause consumers to rein in spending, which would cause an immediate loss of many retail jobs. There is a long-term argument to be made here, but in the short term it would be punishing.
If you were very lucky, your two proposals would leave the unemployment rate flat.
Yes, I know. My post was a bit tongue-in-check. However, something has to be done. The illegals are taking jobs that Americans could be doing, and the Chinese are destroying our manufacturing base.
And the reason they come here is because there are employers who break the law by hiring them. The employers not only pay them lower wages, they don't pay SS, Medicare, and unemployment benefits. This depresses wages generally and American workers, especially the unskilled, have seen their wages go down and be stagnat over the the past thirty years.
The latest data show 23 million immigrants holding jobs in the U.S. with an estimated 8 million being illegal aliens. By increasing the supply of labor between 1980 and 2000, immigration reduced the average annual earnings of native-born men by an estimated $1,700 or roughly 4 percent. Among natives without a high school education, who roughly correspond to the poorest tenth of the workforce, the estimated impact was even larger, reducing their wages by 7.4 percent. The reduction in earnings occurs regardless of whether the immigrants are legal or illegal, permanent or temporary. It is the presence of additional workers that reduces wages, not their legal status.
The Bureau of Labor statistics for May 2011 show a national unemployment rate of 9.1 percent, including 16.2 percent for blacks and 11.9 percent for Hispanics. 23 million Americans are seeking full-time employment. Despite the economic downturn, the U.S. continues to bring in 125,000 new, legal foreign workers a month. This includes new permanent residents (Green Cards) and long-term temporary visas and others who are authorized to take a job. This makes no sense.