Solution to illegal immigration problem is to go after employers

Senators, working with the White House, have reached a compromise on an immigration bill.

Dubbed the "Grand Bargain," the bill would construct a physical and electronic border barrier, hire 18,000 new border guards, construct huge new detention centers, end "catch and release" and require employers to verify the legality of their employees. After certain benchmarks are met, a guest worker program would be established. Illegal immigrants could apply for four-year renewable work visas. Employers would have to certify that no American workers were available before hiring aliens. Heads of household would have to return to their country of origin to apply for the work visas. A point system for legal immigration would be established that would reward more educated applicants, family members and the ability to speak English. The total cost is not clear, but estimates are in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Opposition to the compromise is emerging from the right and the left. The left objects to the point system and the treatment of family members, and on the right there is massive discontent with the visa provisions, which are being called amnesty.

The White House contends the bill is not amnesty, but many ordinary Republicans disagree. Republican senators are being booed at home by GOP audiences because of their support. The compromise hangs by a slender balance in the Senate and could fail with the adoption of any amendments from either side. It faces even tougher sledding in the House, where anti-amnesty Republicans seem eager to defy the White House; Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi is demanding that the White House produce 60 to 70 Republican votes before she will bring it to the floor.

I think Republicans are correct when they call the bill an amnesty measure. Supporters put flowers behind the pig’s ear, but it still amounts to amnesty. It is also highly complex, does not deal seriously with the root cause of illegal immigration and is massively expensive. The bill does provide political cover for the White House and congressional members of both parties. The bill also provides cover for the many U.S. corporations that knowingly violate the law by employing illegal workers.

The more complex the legislation, the less likely it will succeed. Once passed, it will be up to the federal government to enforce it. That thought does not inspire confidence. Given its high cost and given that it is likely to be unsuccessful in stemming the tide of illegal workers into our economy, I am inclined to oppose it. Having said that, I also believe those senators who worked to achieve the compromise were doing so because they believe this bill, although far from perfect, is an improvement on the status quo. I applaud them and President George W. Bush for their efforts to find a workable solution. They might not have gotten it right, but they all risked political capital to try.

I believe there is a workable and inexpensive solution. The most significant reason illegal immigrants sneak into our country is to work. Jobs here pay more than the jobs at home, and many American employers have expressed a preference for foreign workers instead of domestic ones. The problem is market-driven.

The way to alleviate the problem is go to its root cause: jobs. Prevent employers from hiring illegal immigrants. The way to do that is to establish a civil cause of action that permits a private citizen to sue any employer who hires an illegal alien. Provide for a fine to be paid by the employer to the citizen who brings the lawsuit, and make the employer pay the legal cost of the successful plaintiff. People will be on the lookout for illegal hiring. Lawyers will be eager to bring suits. The government will not have to enact a single regulation or hire a single person. Taxpayers will pay nothing. As soon as the suits start being successful, employers will stop hiring illegal workers. As the jobs evaporate, the flow will stop.

Some will say this is a full employment bill for lawyers. That is true, but so what? Either illegal immigration is a serious problem or it is not. If it is, and if we can arrange for the cost of solving it to be paid by those who profit most from the illegal activity, how are we harmed? As to effectiveness, who wants to argue that the trial lawyers will be less efficient than the federal government? Remember, either the bill now in Congress will pass or it won’t. If it passes, we get the huge cost, the complex regulations and amnesty. If it doesn’t pass, we keep the status quo, which nobody likes. Why not try a simpler, less expensive solution that actually goes to the root of the problem? The question is: Whom do you like less, trial lawyers or illegal aliens?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tribune columnist Chris Kelly is a former Boone County associate circuit judge and state legislator. Reach him at editor@tribmail.com.

The following is an email exchange I had with a neighbor on this very subject.
I have redacted the neighbor’s name to protect him from further humiliation.

************

Dick,

We are leaving this morning for San Antonio for vacation. We will be back Monday Night. Would you mind doing the usual mail and newspaper thing?

Thanks.
Dick H

Dick,

Our son John is the only one that might stop at the house. He drives a black Izusu Rodeo SUV.

We should have a good time. We are going with about 8 other couples to celebrate the 60th birthday of Larry Buckles. We will play some golf and eat some brisket, chili and Mexican food. Larry was also in the Air Force and was born and raised in San Antonio. He now owns 4 Mexican grocery stores here in Atlanta.

Thanks again.
Dick H
— Original Message -——
From: Richard Bachert
To: Dick H
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 9:47 AM
Subject: RE: Out of Town Again
Forgot to ask you to ask Larry to be sure he isn’t part of the problem of illegal immigration and hires ONLY those here legally.
Be curious to know his answer.
Dick Bachert

-——Original Message-——
From: Dick H
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2006 9:30 PM
To: Richard Bachert
Subject: Re: Out of Town Again
Dick,

We had a great time in San Antonio. The city was even better than we thought it would be. We only ate from two food groups; Mexican and BBQ brisket. I like both.
Larry is somewhat of a strange bird. He is conservative down to his core. He says that he contributes a LOT of money to W and other extremely conservative Republicans and I have no doubt that he does. He is not a religious conservative, nor religious because of very tragic personal reasons. He firmly believes that there is no reason that anyone, and I mean anyone, should not be rich.
He uses EVERY loop hole in the law to avoid taxes and other stuff. Like having no full time workers, etc.
Yet, I think that if one of his workers had a personal family problem, he would give him the short off his back to help him.
Right now he is extremely angry at W, not because of the war, he is all for that, but because he believes that W has betrayed him. I think mostly because W’s tax laws favor the landed aristocracy (old money) and not the nuvo-rich like Larry. But, I bet he still is giving W and friends tons of money.
Oh, as to your original question; I do not think that he has a problem hiring undocumented workers (I am being politically correct). And, he is not alone among my group of friends. It simply comes down to the cheapest source of labor. It is as simple as that. And, everyone of them firmly believes to their core (especially Larry) that they are more patriotic than anyone else they know.

Dick,

Thanks for the unexpected reply. Glad you guys had a good time.

As the hit man declared to his victim in The Godfather, nothing personal, it’s strictly business, but tell your friend Larry that there are a number of us who are very deeply concerned that the current alien invasion has provided cover for some really bad people with some really bad weapons to enter this country undetected. And their cover — that aforementioned invasion — is largely a product of the U.S. employers who hire the illegals who are drawn here for those jobs. I hope you can see the idiocy of the current situation: We ostensibly fight some amorphous war on terrorists while leaving our southern border wide-open so folks like Larry can make more money then they could by hiring U.S. citizens.

There’s much, much more damage being done to the fabric of this society by this unassimilated wave of humanity: The strain on the medical system, the explosive rise in TB and STD rates, cost to the government schools, etc., etc. but I shant go into them now except to say that all the rest of us are paying Larry’s illegal employees’ “fringe benefits” with our taxes. Visit the ER at any of the Gwinnett hospitals and, if you listen carefully, you MIGHT hear a few words of English being spoken. Hospitals are CLOSING around the country as they collapse under the federal mandate to care for millions of non-citizen indigents who send most of THEIR wages back to Mexico.

You may some day join me in my anger at Larry and his incredibly self-centered behavior on the day when one of the dirty plutonium devices now believed to already be here by a number of intelligence folks I respect make large sections of Atlanta uninhabitable for several decades. On that day, you will be glad you live north of town and the winds prevail from the west.

It is my fond hope that Larry will be under that radioactive cloud on that day — perhaps watching from his prison cell over on McDonough Avenue as, with any luck, he will have been jailed — belatedly, but finally jailed — for his role in facilitating the destruction of not only large chunks of physical real estate but the nation millions have died and been injured trying to preserve a way of life for THEIR children, not the kids of those who, de facto, are here illegally.

Please feel free to share this with Larry. I would be intrigued to hear his defense of his indefensible behavior.

Also share with him this 200 year-old warning:

“Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic but will they keep it. Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom. Material abundance without character is the path to destruction.”

That was Thomas Jefferson and I believe he had Larry in mind when he uttered those words.

Have a nice day.
Dick Bachert

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