Thread: How would bill on immigration add up for Hoosiers?

January 29, 2008


How would bill on immigration add up for Hoosiers?
Some say bill protects taxpayers; others fear it'll drive out Hispanics and drive up prices
By Dan McFeely
dan.mcfeely@indystar.com
January 29, 2008


Whether the work is picking tomatoes on a farm or pounding nails at a construction site, Indiana relies on cheap and plentiful immigrant labor -- legal and illegal -- to do business.
But what would happen if those workers suddenly disappeared? As Indiana lawmakers debate a tough new illegal immigration bill this week, that's a question they are being asked.
While the legislation is welcomed by some as a way to crack down on illegal immigration, others say the loss of up to 85,000 undocumented workers would have a far-reaching impact on Hoosiers.
"Ag jobs are often ones that are not the first jobs people will take," said Kent Yeager, public policy director for Indiana Farm Bureau. "A lot of people in this country are just not willing to do that work."
Without a reliable immigrant work force, Yeager said, producers of fruits and vegetables, livestock and dairy will be forced to look elsewhere to find workers -- and may even shift their operations to other countries.
"If you don't like being dependent on foreign oil, how will you like being dependent on foreign food?" Yeager said.
That is a message state lawmakers are hearing from opponents -- chambers of commerce, manufacturers, home builders, restaurant owners and Hispanic leaders -- as they debate Senate Bill 335, which would crack down on business owners who knowingly hire illegal workers. Hiring and harboring illegal immigrants is already a federal offense. Violators can be jailed and heavily fined.
The bill was advanced out of a Senate committee last week and may be debated by the full Senate today or Wednesday, according to its author, Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel. If passed, it would move to the House for consideration.
Supporters are applauding the bill as a way to stop illegal immigrants from using taxpayer dollars for public services, taking away jobs that Americans would otherwise have and spreading drugs through violent Hispanic gangs.
Opponents say the bill would create an atmosphere of fear that would drive many hard-working and law-abiding Hispanics out of the state. They say this is already happening in Arizona and Oklahoma, where similar strict laws have been adopted.
Indiana now has about 300,000 Hispanic residents, roughly 5 percent of the state's population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. They pay an estimated $200 million in local and state taxes and have $4.8 billion in purchasing power in Indiana. Their scattering would not go unnoticed.
"The economy needs immigrant labor, both documented and undocumented. Without them, many businesses will not be able to operate," said John Livengood, a lobbyist for Indiana's hotels and restaurants. "This will hurt our economy."
On the front line

Not everyone will be hurting, argued Rod Webb, owner of Aztec Resource Co., an employment agency that supplies local landscapers, builders and factories with hundreds of Hispanic workers every year. Many of them are seasonal. All of them are legal, he said.
"Every company is into maximizing profits. If you can pay someone less than you would pay an American, you will," Webb said. "I am not saying all companies do this, but there are companies that don't give a damn."
Webb was born in England and raised in Mexico, his father's home country.
Referring to his workers more like family than clients, he said he started his 10-year-old Southside firm because he got tired of hearing how some young Hispanics were being abused.
Abuse comes in many forms: working a week but not getting a paycheck, being threatened with deportation if they complain or suffering injury on the job with no workers' compensation to help.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, the median salary for short-term undocumented workers in America is about $350 a week, half what legal immigrants (with green cards) earn.
Webb said he requires everyone who walks through his door to fill out paperwork necessary to run through the federal government's E-Verify system, a program that confirms the work status of an individual.
"Our boys average $9.60 an hour, which is not bad for a laborer with very little education and not many skills," Webb said.
Concern at home

Hoosiers are frustrated about illegal immigration.
Last year, an Indianapolis Star-WTHR (Channel 13) opinion poll found that 70 percent of Hoosiers who were questioned oppose any kind of government policy that would allow those in the country illegally to stay or earn their citizenship.
Nationally, 82 percent of Americans do not think the government is doing enough to control illegal immigration, according to a 2007 New York Times/ CBS poll.
Delph said constituents have told him repeatedly that immigration is a major concern. Such feedback is the primary reason he is pushing for the tough new law, which would punish employers who take advantage of cheap and illegal labor.
That likely would include some of the 3,000 pork farmers in Indiana -- the nation's fifth-biggest producer of pigs -- where the state's $3 billion pork industry accounts for 6.5 million pigs a year.
"Clearly there are illegal immigrants in agriculture," said Mike Platt, executive director of the Indiana Pork Producers Association. "All of us are looking for a reasonable solution. We want secure borders and legal workers . . . and farmers want to know they will not be penalized if they do everything they are supposed to do."
But the new state law, Platt said, would drive up the cost of raising pork.
"When you press on one side of the balloon and the cost of the labor goes up . . . the cost to the consumer can go up, too. That goes for pork chops, cars, houses, every segment of the economy," Platt said.
Rick Wajda, who represents 7,000 home builders and contractors in Indiana as chief executive of the Indiana Builders Association, estimates that 60 percent of the illegal workers in construction have obtained false documents that the E-Verify system is not likely to catch.
"Nobody really knows how many illegals there are on job sites. A lot of people suspect that they see people and think they are legal or illegal. We don't know that," Wajda said.
Regardless, if Hispanic workers suddenly disappear due to fear of prosecution, the housing industry will be affected.
"Any increase in costs of goods and services can only be absorbed so much. (They) have to be passed on to the consumer, the home buyer," Wajda said.
Delph, who has met with these lobbyists in addition to leaders in the Hispanic community, is aware of their concerns. It's a more straightforward matter to him.
"This is not about Hispanics. This is not about race. This is about following the law," Delph said.
Bane or benefit?

Indiana University Law Professor John L. Hill was asked by Delph to pull together numbers that show the economic impact of illegal immigration.
It is not an easy task. Many illegal immigrants are paid in cash and live under the radar of the government. Estimates of how much money they earn, spend or absorb from tax-supported programs are vague and hard to find.
In testimony last week before a Senate committee, Hill concluded that the numbers he did find show that a large illegal work force probably is a plus for business.
But it also hurts middle-class families whose tax dollars support the emergency care, education, incarceration and Medicaid benefits of many illegal immigrants -- an estimated $259 million in state and local tax dollars, or $150 to $200 per household in Indiana, by Hill's estimates.
Hill also said 15,000 jobs are lost to illegal immigrants that could otherwise be had by Hoosiers.
But there is another way to look at it, said Michael J. Hicks, an associate professor of economics and director of the Bureau of Business Research at Ball State University.
An illegal worker with a false document will have about 15 percent of his salary pulled for payroll taxes -- taxes for programs such as Social Security that he will never get back because of his illegal status.
Illegal immigrants "do pay a lot of taxes," Hicks said. "They also use public services, but if you net out the costs . . . it is going to be lower because they pay taxes they will never get back."
As for the impact on jobs, Hicks said, Indiana already has a low 4.6 unemployment rate.
"Where are we going to get another 40,000 to 100,000 workers?" he asked. "We don't have a work force of 40,000 to 100,000 Americans willing to cut and stack tobacco, work in restaurants or do the other low-wage jobs the immigrants are doing."
At Aztec Resource, Webb hopes to be one of those who benefits from tough new laws, here and elsewhere.
Webb hopes Indiana companies will turn to firms like his that can do the E-Verify screening and find the workers they desperately need.
"Sooner or later, we have to realize that we need a labor force," Webb said. "Let's make it simple for these people to get their permits. They are just like us. All they want is a good job, a chance to have a home and to raise their kids in a safe place."
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I remember watching a pro-amnesty new york state senator during illegal alien marchers saying'' if deport illegal aliens who will deliver the pizzas?"I Live in North Carolina that has over 400,000 illegals and I have never seen or heard of illegal alien being a pizza delivery driver here.I was in ohio near the west virginia border at a mcdonalds,everyone of them spoke english -no illegal aliens there.I go to the flea market and buy chap vegetables and fruits most half the cost of grocery stores grown by small farmers or individuals,no illegal aliens there.according to the media and politicians non of these things I described can be happening.In the early 20th century people pushed to stop child labor and 12 to 16 hour days.The politicians said they could not survive without child labor, long hours.Slave holders used the same arguements .GREED,only a few people are benifitting from illegal alien labor,without it they would have only about 25 million in thier bank account instead of 20.The 5 million would have gone to pay americans a decent wage.