[Vision2020] "Illegals" OK only if they fight in Iraq

[Tom Hansen]

Exactly, Paul.

"Illegals" cross the border into the US because that is where jobs
"a-plenty" are, jobs that pay less than minimum wage under the table by
corporations looking for cheap labor.

If, as Mr. Crabtree implies, corporate America were on the up-and-up and
truly wanted to eliminate the blight of illegal immigration, don't you think
they (corporate America) would have an organized special interest group that
would make the gun lobby and tobacco industry pale in comparison?

These "illegals" are nothing more than tax-exempt, non-reported,
cheaper-than-minimum wage labor to those less-than-principled members of
corporate America.

By "legalizing" these "illegals" we close down the fiscal trough that's been
feeding these pork bellies and provide the new immigrants with a real shot
at the dream that the corporate porksters lured them here with as they are .
. .

"Coming to America"
http://www.tomandrodna.com/America.mp3

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"If I wanted to overhear every tedious scrap of brain static rattling around
in your head, I'd read your blog."

- Bill Maher

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Paul Rumelhart
Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 10:07 AM
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] "Illegals" OK only if they fight in Iraq

As Keely mentions in a later post, there are strict laws in place about 
what documentation is required for employment, and forms that need to be 
filled out (I9s). One from column A or two from column B or whatever the 
rules are. So I wouldn't call this making the small businessman 
implement the solution, I'd call it having the small businessman follow 
the existing laws.

Believe me, I'm against a national ID card as much as you are. I don't 
think we need one in this case, though. It's certainly possible to fake 
a birth certificate or a drivers license or any of the other pieces of 
identification that are required. However, when it comes time to send 
the persons tax information to the Social Security Administration as an 
employer it would become clear that this employee does not have a valid 
SSN. This would put another burden on the small businessman again, 
though. They would have to actually send this information in to the 
government at tax time for these employees.

I'm not convinced that these illegal immigrants are master forgers of 
documents, though. My guess is that they are simply working "under the 
table". They most likely get paid in cash, out of some fund that is set 
aside for some other purpose. They don't give their employer any 
documentation and the employer doesn't send anything on to the 
government about them. The worker wins because they get what is to them 
a large amount of money every week. It's a win for the employer, because 
they can pay them peanuts and not even have to give them any benefits. 
If the employer loses a substantial amount of money every time they get 
caught, and if this amount of money is substantially larger than what 
they would pay a documented employee with benefits for a year, and if 
this were watched closely, then the employer would quickly learn that 
it's in their best interest to follow the existing laws. Now, it's true 
that this would cause prices to rise and hurt the small businessman who 
is paying the workers under the table right now - but that's the cost of 
following the laws. I don't have any pity for them when they get raided, 
either. Find another business model. Nobody owes them a profit.

However, if the employers are following the laws and the immigrants in 
question are hoodwinking them with fake documents, then I'd say we've 
got a problem. I imagine that's not the case that often, though. 
However, I have no stats to back that up so I could easily be wrong.

I mean, why are these people coming here, anyway? Aren't they escaping 
tough situations in their home country? Don't they come over here to 
work, mostly? I'm sure there are illegal immigrants that are part of the 
criminal element, but the ones I hear about are picking apples or moving 
boxes around for little money. Does anyone know what the rules are for a 
Mexican citizen to legally immigrate? Perhaps we need to revise those a 
bit, too.

I just don't think it's cost effective to entice them to sneak over here 
so some businesses can save a dime while at the same we are putting up 
an expensive wall to (try to) keep them out.

Paul