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Monday, July 21, 2008 6:36 PM
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The promise of easy employment, with few questions asked, has long been a powerful magnet for illegal immigration. That's what has drawn an estimated 7 million illegal immigrants across our borders to help pick our fruits and vegetables, build our homes and businesses, work in our factories, perform landscape and maintenance chores and do myriad other tasks.
In effect, we've had a gray-market, illegal "guest worker" program — paralleling the official, legal one — that looked the other way while both employees and their employers broke the law. The supposed immigration reform act of 1986 just dabbed some window dressing on the problem. While it nominally criminalized employers who "knowingly" hire illegal immigrants, it provided few tools to help verify employee records, and the requirement that employees produce one form of photo identification did little more than fuel the fake-ID industry. After a flurry of raids and arrests, things pretty much went on as before.
This wink-and-shrug system has produced a number of pernicious consequences. It encourages illegal immigration. The illegal workers themselves are exploited through below-market wages and, in many cases, unsafe or unsanitary working conditions. While cheap and plentiful labor may spur profits for some, it depresses wages for others and puts law-abiding workers and businesses at a disadvantage, a complaint that has surfaced in Rowan County. Perhaps worst of all, it fuels anti-immigrant resentment that makes little or no distinction between criminals or free-loaders and the many Hispanic and Latino immigrants who are legal, law-abiding workers.
While stronger border enforcement, increased visas and less cumbersome paths to legalization are all necessary parts of immigration reform, it's essential to have stepped-up workplace enforcement efforts that target employers, rather than simply rounding up workers. So far, there's mixed evidence that a three-year-old enforcement campaign against businesses is producing significant results. In recent months, federal agents have staged several high-profile raids that resulted in the arrests of more than 3,000 suspected undocumented workers. Yet, according to the Washington Post, the raids have brought cases against only 100 or so "bosses" — those who are in supervisory or management positions. Granted, the presence of illegal workers doesn't necessarily mean that an employer knew he was breaking the law. It's a lot easier to prove a worker is in the country illegally than to prove a business "knowingly" hired him. But, thanks to digitized verification systems such as E-Verify, which plugs businesses in a federal data system, employers have fewer excuses for hiring undocumented workers than they did in the past.
Businesses that employ illegal immigrants can face stiff penalties, ranging up to $16,000 per undocumented worker, for multiple violators, as well as possible prison time. Throwing the book at a few more bosses would have a much stronger deterrent effect than rounding up illegal immigrants who may simply languish in our overcrowded jails — or be deported only to return to work for another employer all too willing to look the other way.
Comments (9)
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Luis A.
: Thursday, July 24, 2008 5:55 AM
To respond to Throw them out, you said that we should not pick and choose what laws to obey. And I agree, breaking the law is never ok.The same goes for the law enforcement. They should not pick and choose what laws to enforce. Many have said, including candidates for governor, that we are a nation of laws. And how right they are. We are a nation that is bound by a Constitution that dictates all levels of government. We have a legislative branch at federal and state levels that create laws that govern the American society. However, we have become a nation that does not enforce its laws. The failure to enforce these laws is what has attracted millions of illegal aliens, as you call them. They only come here in search of a job, and a better life that what they were offered in their home country, and a lack of enforcement of immigration laws has created that opportunity for them. Now many are calling for closed borders and tight immigration control. While that may have been the best thing to do decades ago, that policy is outdated and impractical. We now have 12 million illegal aliens in this country, and deporting all of them is not the right answer for it will only cause more problems. Let's leave all of our ideological beliefs aside, and be realist. Let's have a policy that recognizes the costs and benefits of immigration, and will benefit the majority of people, and will allow the United States to have improved relations with Latin American countries.
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Throw 'em out.
Is Breaking Law OK? : Wednesday, July 23, 2008 6:47 PM
So, if doing something illegal benefits some people, then it is ok? Fine. If I rob the bank, should that illegal act be over looked? It does benefit me, as I have plenty of money to spend. So Mr. Sokolowski thinks the ends justifies the means. That is the formula for communism and anarchy. What part of illegal alien do you not understand? "Illegal" means they should not be here - Period - It does not mean they should not be here unless they are doing a job that is low paying and messy or undesirable. Mr. Sokolowski, breaking the law is not ok. Rounding up illegal aliens and punishing those that hire them is the law of the land. we don't get to pick and choose which law to obey (unless, of course, we are illegal aliens). Actually Mr. Solokolowski seems to be employed by a city or is some type of city official judging from his posts.
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Doug Sokolowski
RE: Bruce : Wednesday, July 23, 2008 12:35 PM
To respond to Bruce's comment, Yes I have worked in these farm businesses, but not in the most unpleasant jobs that I was describing. Many of these businesses need hundreds of manual laborers and the only source of willing labor to fill this need are uneducated immigrants. My opinion remains that the pay would need to double to attract enough Americans to fill some of these jobs. While that may sound good to you, it would result in increased cost to consumers for produce, chicken, beef or pork by easily 20 or 30%. My argument is simply that in the case of the dirtiest jobs in America, immigrants are providing the rest of us with the benefit of low cost labor and lower prices at the store.
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Bruce
Re;Federal immigration crackdown is a bad idea : Tuesday, July 22, 2008 7:45 PM
Doug doesn't believe there are people who would work for $14.00 an hour in the field. However his first statement is that, he himself has done this for the past twenty years. You got your ship (sp) together Doug.
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DS
drivers' licenses : Tuesday, July 22, 2008 10:48 AM
I can only tell about my own story (a Rowan County native): After visiting the Social Security office to get my named changed on my card, they printed out a letter and I took that letter to the DMV that same day. They absolutely refused to let me change my name until the records 'synced' at midnight with the records from Social Security. So, I think the answer to your question is 'yes' they have tightened up the requirements and the documents that are required. My worry is about the 10's of thousands of illegal aliens who ALREADY have their NC drivers' licenses. Everyone knows that is the first piece of ID anyone wants, a picture ID. I also know NC is the first state to have a 'real ID' hologram on the back of the drivers' licenses. I am sure this contains some kind of security information although they are playing it close to the chest as to what information this chip has. Look up "real ID' on the 'net. I think it's a good idea to tighten up requirements since NC was the laughing stock of the country as far as giving licenses to illegals. Of course, that was not DMV's fault-that was the fault of the legislators.
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: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 10:15 AM
Set up a guest worker program. Make them legal (documented.) We need the workers and can't affort to throw everybody in jail/
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drivers license : Tuesday, July 22, 2008 10:01 AM
No, it's not true that they have made it more difficult, they have made it impossible for illegals that do not produce a SS # to get one. Result is that we now have a huge number of people not only driving without a license, but without insurance (brilliant move from the government by the way)! Are you kidding about the DMV having a legalization program (or even a booklet)? They do good just to smile at AMERICAN citizens! I have had the good fortune to get one or two to smile and be nice as I was getting my license over the years, but as a whole they are hateful. And don't get me started on how I WITNESSED the Rowan DMV treating Hispanics the last time I renewed!
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drivers licenses : Tuesday, July 22, 2008 9:22 AM
isn't it true that that have really made it more difficult to get a driver's license, can you tell a story of the progress in this area of tightening the area of undocumented latinos? AT the dmv, is there an education process on how to become legal?
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Doug Sokolowski
Federal immigration crackdown is a bad idea : Tuesday, July 22, 2008 7:10 AM
I have worked in vegetable fields and also for large poultry companies in the past twenty years. These industries rely on hard-working immigrants to perform unpleasant jobs at low cost. The current trend toward prosecuting willing workers and management in these businesses will result in higher prices for food and produce. I do not believe that there are enough Americans willing to perform these jobs even at $14.00 an hour, which would be a significant increase over the current wage standard in these industries. In a worst case scenario, aggressive prosecution and deportation will result in produce rotting in the field, shortages in the marketplace, and dramatically higher prices for consumers. As a nation, we should move slowly on this issue and consider the consequences of overreacting to this problem. Besides the financial cost of these prosecutions, there is a second reason why prosecution of business owners is a bad idea. This approach requires business owners to act as immigrations agents, under threat of personal prosecution for non-compliance. This is another step in the creep of big-brother government, where citizens are required to report their fellow man to the government for immigration violations, and puts American businesses under constant surveillance by the federal government. The recent spike in federal prosecutions is turning hard-working business owners into federal criminals and will carry a tremendous cost to our society with little benefit.
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