[skeeter]

Nothing draconian is necessary in order to address the illegal alien problem. It'd be no more difficult than having employers and social services require proof of citizenship at the time they hire or apply for goodies.

IMO the draconian part comes in sentencing of offenders. Anyone caught employing illegals would pay a hefty fine the first time, the second time said employer goes to jail. Anyone caught fabricating ID's gets the chair.

Problem solved!

[John Jorsett]

Anyone caught employing illegals would pay a hefty fine the first time, the second time said employer goes to jail.

Before you can put this into effect, you have to have a nonforgeable form of ID. As it is, there are a multitude of acceptable IDs, and the employers can plausibly say that they're not experts in detecting frauds. As long as the person can present something that's on the approved list, and it looks good enough to a layperson, the employer is off the hook. Other than Tyson, I haven't heard of a prosecution of an employer.

[Poohbah]

IMO the draconian part comes in sentencing of offenders. Anyone caught employing illegals would pay a hefty fine the first time, the second time said employer goes to jail. Anyone caught fabricating ID's gets the chair.

"I'm not an expert at checking IDs for forgery, how come the GOOBERMINT didn't pick up on it when they gave this guy a DRIVER'S LICENSE?"

Problem solved!

Not.