For Lawmakers, Immigration and Employment Inextricably Tied

Immigration is a complex issue and by no means do we have all of the information that is available. But I think it’s an issue that we should be talking about as it relates to employment in this country. The sweeping immigration legislation introduced by the Bush administration is not going to make it out of congress in this legislative session. The proposal included a guest worker program that would allow many illegal immigrants already in the country to register and begin working toward U.S. citizenship. It is largely this piece of the original bill that is responsible for the bill stalling in congress.

Many feel that the enforcement of current immigration laws is inadequate and that any immigration initiative should begin by dealing harshly with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants that are already here. So, for now, that legislation will lay dormant as funds are directed toward short-sighted “solutions” such as a fence along the border with Mexico, new border patrol agents, and new and larger prisons for illegal immigrants.

Many people claim that illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans, while others say that illegal immigrants are simply taking the jobs that Americans will not do. Often, these positions involve low wages and manual labor and are concentrated in the construction, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors of the economy. While it is true that a large percentage of the workforce in those sectors is comprised of immigrants, I don’t think it’s safe to assume that the positions would otherwise be filled by American workers. American workers don’t want to work for minimum wage. Illegal immigrants relish that opportunity.

Many of the political and civic leaders that are pushing for tougher immigration laws point to the fact that finite resources such as housing are being consumed too rapidly because of the influx of immigrants. This argument doesn’t really work for me. Anecdotally, I can point to the city of Baltimore as an example of immigrants helping to revitalize a city that has traditionally had a very high percentage of unoccupied and decaying housing. In and around the Fells Point area of Baltimore, the immigrant base is strong and they have helped to bring a certain vitality to the area where none existed previously. There are many new restaurants, shops, and other businesses that are owned and operated by immigrants. Prior to the arrival of the immigrant population in Baltimore, these same city blocks sat dormant for decades. While that is one small example of the positive impact immigrants can have, I’m certain that people living in border towns would have a different perspective.

In areas of Arizona and Texas, the border with Mexico exists in name only and illegal immigrants are a consistent problem. Law enforcement is losing the battle to keep the crossings in check and try to limit the damage caused by desperate immigrants as they pass through the communities close to the border. Some of the most vehement proponents of tougher immigration laws are these same innocent U.S. citizens whose lives are adversely affected on a daily basis by immigrants passing back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico.

Meanwhile, the millions of illegal immigrants that are already here are going to work every day and are often paying no taxes on their income. This is a problem that creates an additional burden for the already-strained infrastructure of the United States, especially in areas of healthcare and social services. But it is also at the heart of the immigration debate because many U.S. companies knowingly employ illegal immigrants, paying them sub-standard wages in cash and thereby getting cheap labor that is entirely untaxed. U.S. employers have to contribute payroll taxes on all wages that they pay to employees – at least, they must contribute based on the wages they report paying. It is the practice of hiring “off the books” that really drives the continued influx of illegal immigrants and makes the problem one that is fast becoming overwhelming to lawmakers and citizens alike. It is also the reason why many leaders are calling for better enforcement of the existing U.S. employment laws to help curb the practice.

In a recent article in the Washington Post, Representative Rahm Emanuel railed against the current Republican leadership in Congress:

He cited government findings that between 1999 and 2003, work-site enforcement operations were scaled back 95 percent by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, while the number of employers prosecuted for unlawfully hiring immigrants dropped from 182 in 1999 to four in 2003.

Now there’s an interesting approach to controlling illegal immigration – simply stop enforcing the laws. It seems that any real progress would have to be made at the level of the companies that hire and pay illegal immigrants untaxed wages. This is not an easy task, but it’s much more manageable than trying to close the border with Mexico. If the workers are all documented and wages are taxed, then there is no immigration problem. In congress, it seems that the focus is solely on the creation and enforcement of a physical border with Mexico. In the same article noted above, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist noted that “most Americans just want to see the fence going up.” Personally, I think that’s underestimating the intelligence of “most Americans”. Does anyone really believe that building a fence between the U.S. and Mexico is going to solve anything? In areas where fences already exist, “illegals” easily tunnel under them. And who would be providing the labor to build such a fence? Illegal immigrants, of course.

This problem must be addressed at the level of the employer and can be managed only from that perspective, yet the political expediency of “building a fence” is leading to an improper approach to the issue that ultimately fails to serve the American people. By focusing on the issue at this level, those along the border in the U.S. who are adversely affected by immigrant crossing can rest assured that immigrants can make it into the U.S. without destroying property or loitering in areas where it is inappropriate to do so. This would be possible, ostensibly, because of tighter controls over entry into the country coupled with increasing the number of immigrants who can come into the country to work jobs that, arguably, American do not wish to take. In tandem with this physical control of legal border crossings would be an aggressive approach to ensuring proper documentation of wages paid to immigrants, thus producing greater tax revenues for a country saddled with debt and taking back control of U.S. borders NOT by shutting them, but by selectively opening them.

Tags: illegal immigration, immigration legislation, manual labor, minimum wage

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