Posted on 04/09/2006 5:56:29 AM PDT by madprof98
If they really wanted to, your representatives in Washington could dry up illegal immigration almost before you could say, "Tom Tancredo is a tiresome demagogue." All they would have to do is require U.S. employers to check the legal status of all employees and impose stiff sanctions — including multimillion-dollar fines and prison time — on employers who flout the law.
After a few executives had done the perp walk, others would get the message. Illegal hiring would drop precipitously. Since the vast majority of illegal immigrants come to this country to work, many of them would leave if they couldn't get hired.
And they'd take the message back home to La Paz and Villa Juarez and San Gerardo: Without legal papers, you can't get a job in the United States.
So why haven't Congress and the White House fixed a broken immigration system? Because it works for so many — illegal workers, business interests and middle-class Americans alike. Industries such as construction and agriculture get a cheap and docile work force, poorly educated men and women who'll work Sundays and holidays and never report their employees for labor violations. Middle-class Americans get the benefit of cheaper products and services, everything from lawn care and domestic work to homegrown fruits and vegetables. And houses. Since home sales are keeping the economy afloat, politicians don't want to do anything to interfere with the massive housing-construction-and-sales complex.
Fringe politicians benefit from the presence of illegal workers, too. Without them, would you ever have heard of a minor-league congressman named Tancredo? A Republican from Colorado, he is now considering a run for the White House, fueled by the name recognition he's won with his nativist rants against the undocumented workers pouring in across our southern borders.
That's not to say illegal immigration is without its costs. In towns and cities that have seen a rapid influx, there is rising frustration over schools having to accommodate non-English-speakers, hospitals overwhelmed by uninsured patients, and higher rates of gang-related crime. (But those taxpayers benefit, too, from lower prices for ditches dug and chickens filleted.) An even higher cost is borne by Americans at the bottom of the wage scale, especially poorly educated black men, who lose out when forced to compete with illegal immigrants for jobs.
But poorly educated black men don't have oily platoons of lobbyists looking after their interests. Big Business does, and it wants to keep those borders open. Overwhelmed taxpayers, meanwhile, are easily placated by election-year rhetoric promising higher walls, stouter fences and more border guards than rattlesnakes along the Rio Grande. Let's call this campaign-season spectacle "Wag the Mexican."
Indeed, the steady flow of workers across our borders became a tsunami in the 1990s because of pressure from business interests. After agents from the old Immigration and Naturalization service raided one of Georgia's Vidalia onion fields in 1998, members of Georgia's congressional delegation — Republicans and Democrats alike — denounced the raid. In response, the INS practically shut down workplace enforcement. By 2000, according to INS figures, the estimated number of illegal immigrants had risen to 7 million, from 3.5 million in 1990.
To understand the inherent and willful contradictions in the laws that govern workers and their legal status, consider this: The Social Security Administration is able to identify companies that routinely employ large numbers of workers using fake numbers. But by law, Social Security is forbidden from forwarding the names of those companies to Homeland Security. That law could be changed in a heartbeat, but Congress hasn't done it.
Congress could also appropriate money for a nationwide computer system that would allow all employers to get instant verification of a worker's Social Security number and then require all employers to use it. If Bloomingdale's can give me approval for a credit card in three minutes — while I'm still trying samples at the perfume counter — then the feds can create a system for instantaneous verification. Congress hasn't set aside money for that, either.
That's because it doesn't want to solve the problem. Your political leaders like to rant about the broken immigration system, but they have no intention of fixing it.
I think this issue is going to separate the men from the boys when it comes to patriotism and protecting our American way of life. Putting the Country's welfare above the lining of our pockets.
We've all heard that the BIG FIGHT will be between the "haves" and the "have-nots". Perhaps this immigration (cheap labor) debate will make this separation.
Can I have that in writing? Because we do all that and are still told that if we slip up we are going to jail.
Matching name with number is no good because it does not confirm that the person with that name is the person that you have just hired.
cheap, tax free, and docile illegal foreign workers
Every illegal that I have fired has been paid exactly the same, has had the exact same taxes paid on him and gotten the exact same benefits as every other worker up until the day we found out the papers were phony and they were terminated.
We benefit not at all. In fact it costs us both time and money.
12/20/01 News Report -- The Charlotte Observer Problems at N.C. plants alleged in probe
Poultry-processing company seen as good neighbor in Wilkesboro
by Stan Choe
Some Wilkesboro residents say they can't believe Wilkes County's largest employer, Tyson Foods Inc., has been indicted on charges of smuggling illegal immigrant workers into its plants and giving them bogus work papers.
Tyson, the nation's largest meat producer, has been a good neighbor, employing 3,000 in the county and sponsoring blood drives, said Wilkesboro Mayor Norman Call.
"I wouldn't think they would do anything like that," he said.
But a federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court of Tennessee's Eastern District has indicted the Arkansas-based company and six of its current and former managers on 36 counts, ranging from causing the use of illegal documents to conspiracy to defraud and obstruct the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The indictment was unsealed Wednesday. Tyson denies corporate wrongdoing; the individuals could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Tyson has four N.C. divisions - three in Wilkesboro and one in Monroe. None of the six indicted employees is from an N.C. factory.
The 57-page indictment charges that two Wilkesboro plants - the fresh poultry and cooked poultry operations - used two temporary staffing agencies to hire illegal workers from July 1998 to February 2001. The Monroe plant used another two agencies for illegal workers, from August 1998 to January 2001, the document says.
In the fall of 1998, according to the indictment, an unidentified co-conspirator told the personnel manager of the Monroe Tyson plant, "You gotta do what you gotta do. If you need to hire more temps, then hire more temps."
The government contends "temps" was often code for illegal aliens among Tyson management.
Management at the N.C. plants referred questions to Tyson's headquarters.
Tyson officials could not be reached for comment Thursday, but in a statement, the company said it was innocent of conspiracy and of alleged poor working conditions for illegal immigrants, such as fewer breaks. The company also said the indictment came because it refused to agree to "the prosecutors' outrageous financial demands." Tyson did not elaborate on what those demands were.
The company said that, after an internal investigation, it dismissed four of the six managers accused in the indictment and placed the other two on administrative leave several months ago.
Those managers acted alone, without the company's consent, and broke company policy at five of the company's 57 plants, the company said.
The indictment, though, accuses Tyson of creating a corporate culture of hiring illegal aliens to boost production and cut costs.
The case is the largest against an American company for alleged smuggling, said INS commissioner James Ziglar.
"INS means business and companies, regardless of size, are on notice that INS is committed to enforcing compliance with immigration laws and protecting America's work force," he said.
After a two-and-a-half year investigation, the government accused Tyson of paying undercover agents for delivery of illegal aliens to Tyson plants across the country and providing them with fake Social Security and other identification cards.
The 15 processing plants from Texas to Virginia, including the N.C. sites, welcomed the illegal aliens, according to the indictment.
The government said Tyson preferred the illegal workers because they were paid less, would work with fewer breaks and would be less likely to file for workers' compensation, for fear of deportation.
The INS sent several undercover agents to act as smugglers, helping the aliens "through the river" across the Rio Grande. Tyson paid the agents with corporate checks, according to the indictment.
Many of Tyson's offers were for $100 per smuggled head or more for those who would be guaranteed to be "responsible," according to the indictment. Undercover agents also told Tyson management that bogus Social Security cards would cost $200 each.
The indictment charged that the indicted managers agreed to the payment but wanted to make sure to call them "recruiting" fees.
The Justice Department doesn't know how many total illegal aliens Tyson hired, said spokesman Bryan Sierra, beyond those involved in the investigation. Among the allegations, Tyson asked undercover agents to bring in more than 2,000 illegal immigrants from Mexico to Guatemala.
Most of the smuggling went through a former Tyson employee who called himself "Jefe de Jefes," the boss of the bosses, the government alleges.
The former employee, who was not indicted, worked at a shop in Shelbyville, Tenn., outside a Tyson plant and helped the aliens obtain fake Social Security and other identification cards, according to the indictment.
The date on this is 01
Tyson foods...Clinton Supporter
Though like most big business support both dems and pubbies
for a little quid pro quo
imo
Face it folks, illegal aliens to greedy business owners is almost as good as slavery, maybe better.
If you are such a "patriot" as opposed to an unpatriot like myself, then you should boycott any business with Mexican workers. Since they very likely are or have been illegal at one time you should stop employing them with your dollars. Show your patiotism.
Fact is you are using censorship by saying me or anyone believing labor intensive business needs cheap labor is unpatriotic or whatever other name you want to call us have no right to speak. You want to eliminate debate and pretend you are right and anyone presenting other info is wrong.
Your answer is to let all those farms and businesses go bankrupt because it won't affect your job. You have never been more wrong in your life. Those farms and businesses feed you either directly or indirectly.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
If Bloomingdale's can give me approval for a credit card in three minutes — while I'm still trying samples at the perfume counter — then the feds can create a system for instantaneous verification. Congress hasn't set aside money for that, either.
Cynthia, every word is a jewel. I hope Atlanta listens.
There are many more folks like him than you would believe ~ that's why we ALL recognized the character and his attitude of immorally aggressive invincibility.
On the other hand, if DHS (Department of Homeland Security) were to inspect the employer's records and notice the document in question looked like a fake, the employer would be liable for sanctions.
My point exactly. Damned if we do and damned if we don't.
This system just confirms that the number is valid. That is a help and why we are using it but as I have repeatedly pointed out just because the number is valid does not mean that it belongs to the person you are hiring.
While this is a useful tool it is not a be all and end all. Also it applies only to people hired after the program began. I am forbidden to run any current employees through the system.
It is frustrating.
"And it is ending summer jobs. When it costs you $300.00 a pop to just weed out the bad apples you are not going to do it for someone that will be gone in three months."
I'm afraid your being disingenuous here. Most kids looking for summer work will speak English without an accent, and you can call there dad to verify if if you want due diligence.
No risk to you, because you know where they are from. In other words do that dreaded profiling...
" It is frustrating."
Why not just ask for references from all employees? You could get information that would allow you to make a determination accurately.
And since you are asking it of all employees, no foul.
I was finger printed when I got a driver's license.I've also been figer printed when doing business with a bank where I was not a regular customer.
I call BS on your statement that we can't check legal status. SS numbers allow us to do that, without finger printing etc. Either a SS is legitimate or it is not, if legitimate someone is already using it and it has a name, discription, age of person, address etc. tied to it. If they check the number and Mary so and so has this number and is working in Utah, it can hardly belong to Jose who is trying to get a job in Texas. If the number is not legit, this will also show up during a check.
Your statement is very like all the other statements uttered by people who want ILLEGALS in the country for one reason or another, it is just a defeatist statement aimed at trying to discourage people from calling for enforcement of our existing laws.
We need no new immigration laws, we merely need to enforce the ones we have now.
"All they would have to do is require U.S. employers to check the legal status of all employees and impose stiff sanctions — including multimillion-dollar fines and prison time — on employers who flout the law."
Pigs must be flying. I agree with something Cynthia Tucker writes.
You are the one who is being disingenuous. So I am to hire only kids who speak English without accents huh? How quickly would you like for me to be sued into oblivion at best and sent to jail at worst. What you just suggested is illegal.
and you can call there dad to verify if if you want due diligence.
You mean I can call the number the kid gave me. Who is on the other end of the line? Gee let me check the magic 8 ball.
No risk to you, because you know where they are from.
Only if I hire the children of current employees. And that brings a whole set of other problems that we will not get in to.
In other words do that dreaded profiling...
Orange is not flattering to my complexion.
What did she write the other time?
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