Thread: New federal immigration policy holds employers accountable

New federal immigration policy holds employers accountable (and it’s about time)
By Vindu Goel
Monday, August 13th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/vindu/20 ... bout-time/

The conservative opposition that helped doom the comprehensive immigration reform bill in June largely boiled down to one issue: how could the U.S. government legalize the status of millions of undocumented workers when it’s doing such a lousy job of enforcing existing laws to discourage illegal immigration in the first place?

In other words, enforcement first, amnesty second.

Well, President Bush, duly chastened by the defeat of the bill, is listening to his voter base. On Friday, the administration announced a 26-point plan to boost enforcement of existing immigration laws. The measures range from more border guards to streamlined regulations for issuing farm-worker visas, many of which we’ve heard before.

The most important initiative is a long-overdue crackdown on employers who hire undocumented workers. Finally, employers will be held accountable for whom they hire.

Employers are the most vital link in the immigration economy: the biggest reason people sneak across the border or overstay their visas is to work. An estimated 5 to 7 million workers are undocumented, or approximately 5 percent of the U.S. workforce.

Right now, employers can turn a blind eye to the fake identity documents that illegal workers present when they are hired.

In fact, it doesn’t pay to ask questions. If you are running a restaurant, a construction site or a farm, the odds are high that many of your workers are illegal. To ensure access to a steady supply of cheap labor, you really don’t want to weed out illegal workers.

Under the new rules, if a worker’s Social Security number doesn’t match the records in the federal database, an employer has 90 days to sort out what’s going on: is it a simple clerical error, or has the employee presented fake documents?

Employers who knowingly hire or retain unauthorized workers — especially after a “no matchâ€

I read on one of the other sites that Colorado is using non violent inmates for the farmers to use in the fields....and the farmers are paying the inmates what they would pay the illegals....the inmates are happy...the farmers are happy and the jail says that this process is teaching the inmates good work habits....sounds like a win/win situation to me...
gotta love Colorado!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But half a loaf — enforcement — is a start.

This isn't half a loaf - this is the 'whole enchilada' - and it is being given to the corporations. All of these illegals are going to magically be transformed into legal workers.

Nothing is going to change except we will have a harder time getting rid of them.

It took 30 years to get anyone to even mention illegal immigration - will it take that long to get these practices changed?

As long as we continue to support them with our money - it will never - ever change.