Posted on 11/30/2005 8:40:01 AM PST by epow
To zap illegals, jail those who employ them
Published on: 11/30/05
On Monday, President Bush gave a speech designed to reassure his conservative base that he is serious about protecting the country from illegal immigrants.
Speaking before an invitation-only audience in Tucson, Ariz., the president didn't spend too much time talking about the valuable contributions that immigrants have made or about granting them the opportunity to become citizens. Instead, Bush focused on fences and raids and deportations. In so doing, he reached out to a disaffected Republican constituency that is increasingly hostile to immigrants — especially to those Latinos who enter the country illegally.
Bush's tough talk will certainly have widespread appeal in Georgia, where many voters have become anxious — even angry — at what they perceive as the staggering burden of illegal immigration. There is a backlash brewing — a rising tide of frustration born of resentment over schools forced to accommodate non-English speakers, hospital emergency rooms beset by uninsured patients and perceptions of higher crime rates.
Over the past decade, the immigrant population has grown faster in Georgia than in nearly all other states. Immigrants — with and without documents — find work in carpet mills in Dalton, poultry plants in Rome, farms in South Georgia and construction companies throughout metro Atlanta.
But Bush failed to call for the one policy change that would make the greatest difference in deterring illegal border crossings: harsh penalties for employers who hire undocumented workers. Most illegal immigrants, especially those who come in through the porous Mexican border, are drawn to this country by the promise of work. If jobs dried up, the torrent of illegal immigrants entering the United States would diminish to a trickle. And the best way to curb the hiring is to put employers in prison for hiring illegally.
But the president didn't say one word about harsh penalties for businesses. That's because business executives are a core GOP constituency, and Bush doesn't want to risk alienating them.
Oh, he gave the usual lip service to the idea of responsible hiring. He spoke of his plan for providing temporary permits for immigrants to work in those industries that need their labor, and he described IDs that would be tamper-proof, thwarting the common practice of using fake IDs. He announced the expansion of a program called "Basic Pilot," an automated system through which businesses may determine whether a prospective employee is authorized to work in this country. Basic Pilot is now available for use nationwide. But employers are not required to use it.
Bush didn't say anything about business owners who knowingly hire illegal immigrants because their labor comes cheap: They will work for less than minimum wage; they don't seek health insurance; they don't complain about safety violations in the workplace.
It's not difficult for employers to check on the immigration status of prospective workers. The Social Security Administration maintains a database of all Social Security numbers. It's easy enough for employers to learn whether a worker's number is valid. But many employers don't do that.
While many industries claim they can't find willing American workers, the truth is that they could find more Americans willing to do tough, dirty jobs if they paid more for their labor. Is it true that poultry plants couldn't find enough Americans to fill job openings? Or is it more likely they couldn't find enough American laborers for the wages they were willing to pay?
Of course, the higher labor prices would be passed on to consumers if the Bush administration and Congress really cracked down on illegal hiring. Homebuilders, for example, get to squeeze out a bit more profit when they use illegal workers, but they also pass some of the savings on to consumers. Houses are cheaper — and so is chicken, farm produce and lawn care, among other things — because illegal immigrants do so much of the labor. Americans who denounce illegal immigrants may not have calculated the additional costs they'd incur once that labor disappears.
It's easy to bash illegal immigrants. They are desperate; they are vulnerable; they don't vote. But they are here only because we've developed a bipolar policy that devours their cheap labor while discouraging their assimilation. If we are serious about curbing illegal immigration, the place to start is with business owners who hire illegal workers.
• Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays.
Okay. But, it would have been better to have him arrested and local news crews notified so the publicity would serve as an example to others.
I don't understand this post. What is a siren call for coyotes? A fed trapper?
Is that reason to fire them all?
When an employee runs away when the cops arrive (if I understand you right) then you should fire him.
How do you do five jobs at the same time? Maybe on different days of the week, but not at the same time. If this happens, they should check it out. It's not that hard.
United States immigration laws refer to them as "illegal aliens".
Good judgement is what you didn't use when you hired a bad employee who cost you your business. If one of your people sexually harasses someone, or injures someone, you can be held liable in court. It happens all the time.
The law says you shouldn't hire illegals. This is not a new regulation. You have to use your best judgment on how to comply with this law. If you don't, then a judge or a jury will judge YOU.
Did you call the police and have him arrested for document fraud?
The Social Security Administration is getting in about $6 billion per year of withholdings where the name does not match the number. This has got to be from way more than 1% of illegals so your assertion is erroneous. My guess is that it is the majority. Most of them just make up a number and have no idea who it belongs to or if it has ever been issued or if it belongs to a child or a retiree or somebody long dead. I imagine you are right that some use valid social security numbers and matching names belonging to their legal relatives, acquaintances or perhaps their own anchor baby citizens.
I would absolutely give employers who followed the Basic Pilot Project process for verifying social security numbers safe harbor from prosecution if it later turned out that someone who had been verified was an illegal.
At the same time, I think employers who do not follow the Basic Pilot Project process should be held to a strict liability standard and that we should no longer accept their lame excuses about not being able to recognize obviously fake documents that wouldn't pass the laugh test for most of us at 20 feet.
===============================================
Welfare is not for life. The basic assumption equation is backwards. Illegals don't come here because there are low paying jobs, the jobs are low paying because the illegals are here to do them.
We would, as a nation, have to be willing to pay more for many services if we want to force employers to pay a living wage to American workers. Of course the benefit to us would be through the tax revenues collected and the lessening of the burden on the public that illegals cause. It would work.
If 60 minutes tries to slime a company because they checked out employee documents, that company will become a national hero.
It all depends on us really. If the public applies enough pressure to the courts and the media, if we fight them, we will win.
Well, probably, I don't know, but like I have been saying. Let's Close/secure the border first, and then we can "talk." This is National issue and it should be discussed and decided on what is BEST for the U.S. I suppose there will be tons of theories and solutions on how to fix this problem... I am certainly no expert on this. But there are plenty of "lessons" out there of what happens when immigration is not handled correctly.
I speak Spanish myself, but I do NOT agree with having Spanish as an official language. I also think, people should be required to learn at least a basic level of English for Citizenship (unless too old or extenuating circumstances). It's dangerous, we ALL KNOW THAT, when we start dividing the country and creating pockets of people who will not assimilate and become "Americans." etc, etc, etc.
I just used "illegal aliens" in the previous sentence. I'm sensitive to using the same phrase over and over again. It's the writer in me.
Your posts need a incoming moon bat alert.
Get real, you are comparing apples to oranges & you know it.
If we follow your proposition, to hell with our borders, throw them wide open, come one come all. I am sure there will be a few hundred million or so takers.
oh, folks. where to start. ok, i've been in this immigration biz for almost 14 years and about to get out of it because I just can't take the illegal alien crap anymore. Folks, the illegals are getting forged documents. There are ways around the "laws" to petition the USCIS for an employment authorization card. Illegals can come across the border and marry an American citizen and boom! they have work authorization just because they married a USC! It still doesn't address the issue that they entered the US illegally. How do you fix this problem? Reform the immigration laws that make it so that if an illegal marries a USC, that does not give them the right to claim permanent resident status (green card). Also, there should be a devise that can be designed to scan the employment authorization cards, permanent resident cards and drivers licenses for authenticity and the DOL needs to change their labor laws to allow for such a thing because under the current I-9 laws, an employer cannot ask for any one type of employment document to be submitted for employment verification and they cannot legally verify the document.
The temporary worker cards that Bush is talking about is another word for amnesty. It didn't work under Reagan -
it's not going to work now. And I know that there are a lot of homeless people who would work these jobs that "American's don't want", especially if we gave them free room and board like we're doing for the lazy bums from N.O. who don't want to work and want to continue sucking our welfare system dry and live off of Federal money (FEMA).
The next question is how to find the illegals. How about this? Make it a mandatory law that every immigration lawyer has to provide every name of all of their clients who entered the US illegally and that the reporting does not need to be disclosed to the client. I'm telling you - I see people from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Colombia, et. al. walking through our northern and southern borders undetected and illegal. But because they want to become legal, they seek out immigration attorneys; so, to get the illegals, you not only have to go after all the employers and heavily fine them - I mean to the point it is going to really hurt, but you have to go to the attorneys as well. Some of you may say that this is a violation of civil rights/attorney/client privalege. My take - if you're illegal in this country. You have no rights to any of our protections. They should go through a mass hearing where hundreds are before an immigration judge. No holding facility. The person is arrested, (s)he goes before an immigration judge right then and there. The only question that should be asked - "Did you enter this country illegally?" If the answer is yes - box 'em up and ship 'em out. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.00.
And as far as the cost goes? Well, Vicente Fox should give us a barrel of oil a day for every illegal alien that wanders across our border to compensate the American people for their time and trouble. In addition, sanction Mexico if Fox continues to hand out his handy-dandy brochures on how to immigrate illegally into this country. We are spending millions of dollars in maintaining these people, chasing them, imprisoning them. Spend the $15 million, round them up (give business incentives for turning illegals in), get them out of here, build our wall along the borders and let's get our country back.
That's only the tip of the iceburg that I would do to these people who infiltrate our borders, have not desire to become "assimilated" (God, it sounds like we are Borgs), they don't learn the language, they are destroying our culture. They are stealing, trespassing, murdering, raping. 23% of our inmates are illegals. I have no sympathy for them.
Sorry for the long post. this subject just makes my butt itch! :-)
Yes! The only thing you forgot was that they need to have a conviction added to their record. The way things work right now, if they are deported via expedited removal they don't get that first misdemeanor conviction. The second conviction is a felony and that attracts slightly more attention and keeps them from immigrating legally for many years.
{Cry me a river. Your statement above screams like an admission ticket to cross the border and come work for YOU.}
Try again, FAT CAT. You name another industry besides construction or grocer where we get excited if we can clear 1.5% net profit at the end of the year after taxes. Mix that with the enormous amount of contract risk we take on in any given year and I wonder what I am doing in this business.
Unfortunately, we really like building buidings. We get to leave a lasting mark on the landscape and the communities we work in. It must be some sick pride thing.
Second Trespass - Incarcerate for 30 days, tatoo face with distinctive brand, deport
Third Trespass - shoot on site, cremate, deport ashes.
So it takes a Cynthia Tucker to flush out the statists on Free Republic, does it?
And you also consider Joe LIEberman a hero after yesterday's WSJ column?
The liberals would say there's hope for you yet.
I believe there are probably already enuff laws in place in most states to bar employment of illegals. I know there are such laws in Texas. Problem is they're not enforced very vigorously. When employers are prosecuted they usually pay fines. They're probably ahead, money-wise, hiring illegals even if they have to pay fines so fines are not much of a deterrent. Jail time would POSSIBLY be a deterrent.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.