I hired an all American concrete company to do some work for me. The owner lamented the fact that he was being undercut by other companies that were hiring illegals. His options: pay Americans less, hire illegals, or go out of business. That is what is happening on a very large scale in America today, and the GOPe is complicit in this.
I should add that there’s another aspect of legalization that one very rarely hears about. Do you think the concrete companies that pay illegal alien employees under the table are going to want to legalize that labor? Do you think the illegals themselves want to have far less take home pay once they’re paying all the requisite taxes?
There’s a very real possibility that many (most?) illegals simply don’t want to be Americans. If so, they will likely be the next ones out of work when more illegals arrive to take their jobs!
The only solution, in my opinion, is enforcement and deportation. Those businesses who violate our laws to hire illegals must be severely penalized so that the profit of hiring illegals does not outweigh the risks and penalties of getting caught.
BTW, don’t tell me the US government doesn’t already know where many (most) of the illegals are. They know. In this day and age, it is nigh impossible to move any amount of money without the government knowing about it.
“His options: pay Americans less, hire illegals, or go out of business.”
Let’s look at US business. Their options are pay Americans less, offshore the jobs or hire illegals, or go out of business which many have.
Do you think GM and Ford can compete with Hyundai and Toyota with US workers and regulations ? Well they can’t so they offshore parts of their production just like toyota and honda do.
The real problem is after wwII the USA had the only surviving infrastructure and manufacturing base in the entire world because the rest of the world got destroyed in the war.
The USA has been living off that legacy for a long time and the legacy advantages are now running out.
This has been the situation in S Texas (probably in many of the southern border states) for as long as I can remember. (I worked in the construction industry in the late 70s/ 80s) The difference has come in that illegals have spread out nationwide (& into at least, British Columbia) because they’re able to do so.
There is a huge problem (& there was some problem, back then) with the regulations & extra hoops that small business owners have to/ had to jump through. Small business has been under a multi-pronged assault for a long time.
And you make an excellent point in your post after that wrt to illegals (& some owners) wanting things to remain ‘under the table’. I’d say that is spot on.
The whole thing is delusional- unrealistic at best. A vicious cycle. Which is why Eisenhower’s approach was correct.
I’ve also met businessmen who were put out of business in this manner.
The Free traders are making China a bigger threat than the Soviet Union ever was. All for a buck.
The Republicans had plenty of help from Democrats in this.
I voted for Bush 1, but if I could go back in time, I would vote for Perot. Will never vote for a Bush or GOEe types again.