With all of the huffing and puffing about immigration recently, one thing many people have heard, while trying to strike a balance is "We don't need any new laws, we just need to enforce the ones we already have on the books." or "We don't need to keep locking up the immigrants, but go after the companies that hire them. That'll stop the flow."
Well, ICE was listening, and a few weeks ago raided Fischer Homes in Northern Kentucky.
...when agents raided four Northern Kentucky construction sites operated by Fischer Homes last month, they took a tougher approach. They arrested four supervisors and dozens of undocumented workers and charged them with crimes.The criminal charges reflect a dramatic shift in the federal government's strategy for cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Officials say employers take the threat of criminal charges much more seriously than fines, which were often reduced during negotiations.
(Source: The Cincinnati Post. All Rights Reserved)
The problem is that those supervisors arrested claimed to have no knowledge of the workers being undocumented. Many times the workers on a construction site come from subcontractors who are responsible for the administration of their workers employment. Penalizing the people at Fischer Homes because of the mistakes or oversights of a subcontractor hardly seems moral. But I understand the message the government is trying to send: "You cannot hide behind any excuse. You'd better know the legal status of all of your employees or be prepared to face up to 10 years in jail."
The Problem
That'd be great, except how do you truly verify that someone's from this country? How do you really know someone's who they say they are? The IDs they carry? Even the Department of Homeland Security has some trouble with that:The Department of Homeland Security allowed a man to enter its headquarters last week using a fake Matricula Consular card as identification, despite federal rules that say the Mexican-issued card is not valid ID at government buildings. Bruce DeCell, a retired New York City police officer, used his phony card -- which lists his place of birth as "Tijuana, B.C." and his address as "123 Fraud Blvd." on an incorrectly spelled "Staton Island, N.Y." -- to enter the building Wednesday for a meeting with DHS officials....
The Mexican government has issued millions of Matricula Consular cards in the past few years, mostly to give illegal aliens a form of identification that banks and other institutions will accept.
(Source: The Washington Times. All Rights Reserved)
Ooops. And anyone that's seen "Catch Me If You Can" or listened to any half-competent speaker on the issue knows that forgers are always a step ahead of law enforcement. Despite all the money spent and the technology invested there are people who are already making bills that look just like our "unforgable" money. So does a driver's license or a birth certificate or even a US Passport mean anything for verification now? Doubtful. Hell, I was able to go into Washington DC and get a fake ID for $20 from some rinky-dinky t-shirt shop when I was 18 that said I was 21 and no one ever questioned it. Either time I used it. It looked real enough
No Irish Need Apply?
So what's the solution? An employer needs to fill a position but faces the risk of going to jail for 10 years if he hires the wrong person, he's going to start turning away people that don't look "American-enough". Hispanic accent? Turned away. Irish accent? Turned away. Indian accent? Turned away. We're going to institutionalize racism again, but the racism's not mandated by law like the old Jim Crow days. This is unintended racism, through the back door, done by employers to ensure they don't get sent up the river for years for picking the wrong man or woman to work for them. We'll return to the days of "No Irish Need Apply", except it will say "Americans Only", or "No H1-B Applicants Please", "No Migrant Workers". And this does not just apply to Hispanic people, though it impacts them the most by far. Consider for a moment: Harper's Magazine recently reported there are 15,000 illegal immigrants from Ireland in the US. There are quite a few illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics in the Northeastern US. These people may no longer find work, or will have to resort to further illegal means to get hired.
Making Further Criminals Out Of Them
The already vibrant black market of identity theft and forgers will grow larger as immigrants will seek to use every resource they can find to try and convince business owners they're legal. This will ruin even more innocent American lives as their identities get tangled in with those of criminals and illegal immigrants making it harder for them to get employment, credit, and live peaceful lives. An immigrant that's come to this country illegally is already breaking the law. Are they going to care if they have to break it one or two more times to try and secure a place in this country? Are employers who are already callously breaking the law going to care if they have to get some forged paperwork for their employees if it's going to save them a lot of money?The Innocent Victims
And the unwitting businessmen and women, owners of the American dream, will be dragged into jail to share a cell with murderers and rapists and their ilk for hiring the wrong person, or contracting out to a company that hired the wrong person. Their businesses will be shut down, sold, destroyed, driving even more people out of work. Consider for a second those employees of Fischer Homes that face an uncertain future now. Consider their families that face dark times ahead. Rather than risk all of that, employers are going to take the easy road out and hire only Americans, and by Americans, we mean white and black men and women that pass some arbitrary measure of American-ness.
The Economic Cost
Lastly, we alll end up paying more for our goods and services. Most economists agree that illegal immigration works to keep inflation lower, by making the products of certain industries cost less because of drastically lower wages. Employers will need to spend more time looking for employees and more effort ensuring they're legal. Employers will want to employ more Americans, which will demand hire wages for the work. That extra cost has to come from somewhere. It will. Our pockets. That extra money we're paying for our produce, our meat, our lawn care, our cleaning services, and so on will be money not spent on other services. It will be money that could have been invested in new economic growth that isn't. Tighter immigration controls, tougher immigration laws will slowly strangle the economy.Conclusion
So really, who'll won in all this? Not the employers, who will live in fear of hiring the wrong people. Not the honest immigrants, who came to this country legally but are discriminated against by fearful employers. Not your average American. No, it will be the politicians, who get to claim they've done something about immigration; the government, which gets to claim it's taking a stand; Police officers, who get to portray themselves as tough on crime; And criminals, who will exploit the situation for their own gain. This is a pretty lousy group to benefit at the expense of so many people.Additional Information:
NPR Story on the Fischer Homes Raid.Does Illegal Immigration Keep Inflation Low?
Nice evaluation!
Unfortunately, the implications of all you've concluded are rather sad. Not only for the groups of people you've already mentioned but also for the American political machine itself.
In the year 2006 we retain the same shell of appearances that our forefathers architected but almost none of the ideological fortitude that they demonstrated.
The result is like a building that was designed to withstand an earthquake but that steadily has been renovated by its residents, from within, until only the external appearance is retained.
Let a quake actually occur and that building, which looks exactly as it did when it was first constructed, will fall like a house of cards!
Then eacho of the residents who survives the collapse of that building will marvel and point their fingers, looking for someone to blame, never realizing that the ones most responsible for the downfall are the residents themselves.
(ps- i like the color scheme change!)