Employers say migration law burden unfairly placed[favor amnesty]

San Antonio Express-News ^ | 05/10/2008 | Lynn Brezosky

[SwinneySwitch]

McALLEN — Employers have become the nation's whipping boy on the immigration front at the peril of the national economy, and a group of them gathered here Friday agreed they needed to press politically for that to stop.

“We need to redouble our efforts. The employers need to be in the game,” Bill Hammond, head of the Texas Association of Business, said of the immigration debate in Washington. “Restaurants are not being built, hotels are not being built, crops are not being planted — all for a lack of workers.”

The summit sponsored by Texas Employers for Immigration Reform, or TEIR, barely filled half of a meeting room in this city's cavernous new convention center, but most of the attendees carry influence.

Among them were a bank executive, human resources head for one of the Rio Grande Valley's largest employers and McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez, all of whom said they are for allowing undocumented workers legalization to be able to stay in the United States to work.

But the popular cry nationally has largely been for sending unauthorized immigrants home, keeping them out and cracking down on employers whose jobs are incentives for crossing the border.

Employers are watching as states enact laws they say could put them out of business for document transgressions they might not be able to control.

A Burger King franchise owner in Arizona testified in Congress recently that a workforce enforcement rule there could put him out of business for two bad hires out of 900 — even though that meant a compliance rate above 99 percent.

Federally, the “no match” rule would force employers to fire workers who don't quickly remedy the fact that their Social Security numbers and names don't match.

In 2005, employers got “no match” letters on 7.3 million employees, which Hammond said was often due to simple errors such as misspelled names, marriage or confusion caused by use of multiple surnames.

“Employers should not be put in a position to have to be verifying the validity of certain documents,” Hammond said.

Of the nation's 1.6 million farm workers, up to 70 percent may be illegal, creating a crisis should they be sent home.

“From an agricultural perspective, this is still the No. 1 issue,” said former U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm, a Democrat. “This is one that needs to be worked out in an impartial, nonpartisan way.”

Tamar Jacoby, president of Immigration Works USA, an umbrella agency for groups like TEIR, said that Texans had the same concerns as business people in other states. She said there were many in Congress who understood the nation's dependence on immigrant labor but who politically could not support legalization.

“This really is the front line of the battle in Washington right now,” she said. “Representatives are saying, ‘I get it, but I can't vote for it unless I hear some people in my district telling me to vote that way.'”

[Reaganwuzthebest]

We need to redouble our efforts. The employers need to be in the game, Bill Hammond, head of the Texas Association of Business, said of the immigration debate in Washington. Restaurants are not being built, hotels are not being built, crops are not being planted all for a lack of workers.

What an unbelievably ridiculous statement. Are we supposed to be a nation of restaurants and hotels as if our life depended on it? A hundred years ago the talk was about expanding industry and manufacturing while today they're complaining about how their aren't enough low wage workers to fill jobs at the local Burger King. Welcome to the third world.

[longtermmemmory]

Where are the engineers making machines to pick these products?

We have organge and grapefruit pickers which reduced the number of workers.

we have grain combines.

Why not for tomatoes?

[Sterco]

Regarding the American “horse meat industry”, it no longer exists. America recently decided that instead of slaughtering horses it would simply tether them in wooded glades near interstate highways and allow them to starve to death.

Nope...They are trucked over the Canadian border and the same fate awaits them there that awaited them here. They just spend more time in a truck. Miserable time. The road to hell is paved by do-gooders.

[Sterco]

1. The employers are hiring illegals.
2. The employers know they are hiring illegals.
3. The employers know that hiring illegals is unlawful.
4. The employers do not want to report illegals.
5. The employers are the problem.

6. The employers pocket a lot of money because they hire
illegals.

Of course we will realize the savings in the price we pay for services and commodities. Yeah Right...

[muawiyah]

Lots of those horses have been missing the last van for Canada ~

[WVKayaker]

Are we to give our country away because employers want cheaper labor?

I am an employer!

I employ a crew of Salvadoran painters, in my construction business. They have valid green cards, and pay taxes. They make $18-24 per hour, and work long hours.

I had two white anglo-saxon crews, and got rid of them. The Salvadorans complete two jobs for every one the other guys did.I think alcohol was their proble. But regardless...I make more from the Salvadorans.

I will not hire illegals, but I definitely will hire the hardest workers and verify!

The employers want the work done... and, yes, some will cut corners. Try looking in a kitchen in a NY restaurant!

[KC_for_Freedom]

Not the only reason, easy low interest college loans have convinced many of our students that working to make college payments is beneath them. This was not the case when I was in college; crop harvest was a great way to make extra money without a long confusing interview and hiring process.

I still favor a testing service on the border to allow anyone capable of passing a high school sophmore level math and English test and giving them a temporary resident card (with working privileges). In this way we would encourage better education in Mexico and ensure that our immigrants were the cream of the crop so to speak. Of course Mexico would halt border crossing in a heartbeat once they realize what we are doing.

[Mike Darancette]

Then you sir are NOT part of the problem. If the Legal immigrants do a better job then by all means use them no one is asking you to commit financial suicide.

[Sterco]

Lots of those horses have been missing the last van for Canada ~

Get a MP on the interstate where you see these starving horses and turn the issue into ASPCA. They will deal with it.

[muawiyah]

Horsemeat is fine but BS is still BS, and if the illegal aliens won't go home then their employers should become prepared for lengthy stays in American prisons.

BTW, their assets will not go to waste. They'll simply be sold to more responsible owners.