Thread: Illegal Entrepreneurs

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/smallbus ... 22,00.html

IMMIGRATION
Illegal Entrepreneurs
Maria has no U.S. visa, and José's expires soon. Yet they own a profitable California factory, pay taxes, and create jobs.
From the Jul. 2005 Issue of FSB
By Julia Boorstin

LOS ANGELESâ€â€

First of all how many of their employees are legal immigrants. If they have a million dollars invested in hiring illegals then their case should not be very good. Of course the immgration bar here would try to make an argument that addresses only one part of the intent of the law.
There are 8 to 10% of illegals are self employed full time that can be different from owning a business. Landscaping, cleaning, painting etc.


Reading further down I can see that they are actually well in violation. If they can know who is using false papers but not do anything about enforcing the law then they should never get green cards.

As to what could Jose possibly do in Honduras.

Apparel Factory Honduras - business for sale, Honduras on BizBuySell.com
http://www.bizbuysell.com/cgi-bin/addet ... b&q=167643

As Jose's wife Maria is Mexican they could set up operations in Tiajuana or Hermosillo.

Originally Posted by Richard

First of all how many of their employees are legal immigrants. If they have a million dollars invested in hiring illegals then their case should not be very good. Of course the immgration bar here would try to make an argument that addresses only one part of the intent of the law.

As to what could Jose possibly do in Honduras.

Apparel Factory Honduras - business for sale, Honduras on BizBuySell.com
http://www.bizbuysell.com/cgi-bin/addet ... b&q=167643

Richard,
The Chinese will most likely buy it first. From what I understand, there are a great number of Chinese owned textile companies in CAFTA Countries. The labels will be made in Honduras, but the material will have been produced in China.

I know for a fact that the Caribbean and Central American garment industry is real. Not every operation is above board but most of the industry is. As for foreign ownership as well as there being a lot of Chinese there are also a lot of Arabs. Part of the reason for Chinese and Arab invovement is having experience in management. People like Jose are now able to return home with their skills.

A big problem the industry has is that experienced people too often end up moving north. 800 workers is large for operations in the industry in Miami or Los Angeles but typical in Mexico the Caribbean and Central America.

It would be good if there were trading companies that could represent Mexican, Caribbean and Central American operations the size that Jose has now.