Replies

[I don't know where you live]
Southern Florida

[there is a major corporation that has hired illegals]
Tyson Foods for one

[Corporate farms, perhaps? Nahh, they use the guest worker program that we already have in place,] Actually there are plenty of illegals on the corporate farms here. They even are organized and give interviews to the newspapers.

[The places you'll really find them is in construction industries] Yes, discovered working on a Federal building in Miami among other places. The jobs were NOT jobs that Americans would refuse either.

[They've got a huge market in landscaping.]
Very huge. In fact, legal landscapers down here can't compete. Many of them are folding up.

The point is, it has to be painful to ignore the law. That is the ONLY way there will be any adherence to it. If subcontractors go out of business for knowingly hiring illegals, great. The legal contractors will have more jobs and require more legal workers.

If the case of Walmart and companies like that that utilize subcontractors to get around the law, I think they should be liable if it can be proved they knew that illegals were being used.

I am not declaring that I know the answer to this problem, but I think by discussing it a better plan can be found than the one the President is proposing.

I see three areas to address:
1) at the border. Make it harder to get in.
2) the employer. Make it harder for him to turn a blind eye to the practice of hiring illegals.
3) the illegal immigrant. Make the punishment for violating our laws hurt him. Whether that includes a fine, jail time, removal from the legal immigration process, etc.

Think about it. Maybe you will come with better ideas, but something needs to be done besides a blanket acceptance of the law breakers.

1) at the border. Make it harder to get in.

It is already harder to get in, but not impossible. Seems like the convicted felons that we deport somehow come back to join with their gangs. The borders need to be kept up, but I'll give the border patrol one thing - they're finally doing a better job. But how do you stop someone coming here through the border checkpoint itself? Mexicans are allowed to come into the United States to shop, to be tourists, etc. A reservation at the Disneyland Hotel and they have a foolproof method of entry.

2) the employer. Make it harder for him to turn a blind eye to the practice of hiring illegals.

There's no survey to back it up, but I'd say that the biggest employer of illegals are illegals themselves. You don't need to submit worker papers when you're being hired as a subcontractor, and faking a license is FAR too easy. Nailing those who pick up day laborers would be a great thing, except the courts have basically made it impossible to case those sites and nail the employers.

3) the illegal immigrant. Make the punishment for violating our laws hurt him. Whether that includes a fine, jail time, removal from the legal immigration process, etc.

Jail time? I don't want to pay for them in the first place, and now I have to pay $40,000+ a year per illegal? Fine them? Ok, if you nail the money in their pocket, you've got their nest egg. You've already said it - these people are already underpaid, what makes you think you'll get a successful fine? And as to removing them from the immigration process - they don't want to become citizens in the first place! They're here because they can make more money than in Mexico. They participate in their home elections through the consulate.