Do we need immigrant labor?
By Robert Hayes • September 26, 2008

It's not often that Mississippi is number one in anything, but the recent round-up at Howard Industries in Jones County was the largest immigration raid to date in American history.

My only question is why just Howard Industries? Had they chosen to visit other plants in this area, they could have easily doubled the number of arrests.

So why are all these immigrants here? They come because corporations and employers continue to attract, exploit and actually recruit cheap labor. Defenders of the practice say these immigrants have a strong work ethic and Americans aren't willing to do these jobs.

While there may be a measure of truth in those arguments, they are here because we can pay them less, provide them no benefits, and discard them when we're done.

Until recently large companies were reluctant to cooperate with the immigration verification program and smaller businesses remain totally under the radar. The new system has a lot of problems including a flaw that often won't detect the papers of a legal worker being used over and over by illegal workers.

Also the Social Security Administration admits its records are full of errors, which can make identifying illegals a long drawn out process.

Some employers will use sub-contractors to get around the verification system, and some will simply pay illegal workers on a cash basis to completely avoid the system altogether.

Oh, what a tangled web we created by appearing to enforce immigration laws, while at the same time ignoring them.

So what does the incident at Howard Industries tell us? Apparently not much, for it appears that it's business as usual in the rest of the Pine Belt, which seems comfortable working side by side with people we know are breaking our laws and living here illegally.

While other parts of the country are equally guilty, we have provided illegal immigrants a fairly comfortable environment. The governor knows they are here. County and city leaders know they are here. Our law enforcement personnel essentially ignore them unless they commit a crime.

We sell them cars, even though they cannot legally hold a Mississippi driver's license. We rent them places to live, we educate their children, and we pick up the tab for their medical expenses. Illegal immigrants cost Mississippi taxpayers over $25 million in 2005. How much more convoluted and corrupt can you get?

This immigration Catch-22 is likely to continue because it's good for businesses and it's good for politicians who don't want to anger constituents with legislation that might have a negative effect on their local economies.

With some estimates of our illegal population approaching tens of thousands it appears that Howard Industries is a drop in a very large bucket and so far state leaders have refused to pass laws that would effectively prevent large and small employers from hiring illegal workers.

Seems they would rather talk tough and leave the gate partially open. With thousands currently unemployed in Mississippi, one could logically ask why we allow employers to use foreign and illegal workers when many of our citizens who are unemployed and on welfare would work if a job were available?
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