The last time congress tried immigration, with the help of lobbyists, they rewarded our worst employers and people who entered this country illegally, thus discouraging our best employers, and encouraging the next wave of illegal aliens, those who are now waiting for their rewards of public benefits, in-state tuition, health care, having their names added to social security rolls, and being able to re-unite their family by bringing their aged parents to this country, where the public will provide SSI payments and HUD housing. With congress determined to cut costs of "entitlements", they will not add money to pay the people they add to the roles, they will cut the benefits to honest people who worked hard for 30 30 or 40 years, often paying the highest rates, and thought they had a contract with society to receive the same benefits they provided; thought that their government would at least shoulder the same burden that private industry was offering in defined benefit retirement plans.
Well, congress has broken faith with working families so many times before, it is hard to imagine that they will act honorably now, unless we demand it.
Immigration reform must end the cycle of brutal labor under the worse conditions, in exchange for public benefits provided by the taxpayer. That is clearly the socialization of labor costs. In a capitalist system, the concept is that the person needing labor to do dirty jobs, pays a price above a living wage, in order to get the job done by other citizens, and not that they agree to ignore the illegal activities of their workers, in exchange for hard work for low wages while they wait for amnesty and the public to pick up the true cost of their labor.
The 1985 bill contained an "affirmative defense" clause in the law which explicitly releases employers from any obligation to check the authenticity of documents presented to them.(1) That is like saying that someone selling food need not take reasonable and modest steps to assure that the buyers are not made sick. Just as those who sell food that makes people sick can be sued, the costs of sending illegal aliens back to their native lands must be born by those who entice them to enter the country illegally. Why should our worst employers, those who refuse to pay US citizens a living wage, be allowed drive decent employers out of business, and tax the public for the true costs of employment, the cost of health care and retirement? We can not allow our worst employers to socialize their labor costs and tax us.
The "Accident" defense: If hiring an illegal worker, and paying them less than a living wage, is an accident that costs the public money, so is someone chopping down a tree that falls and hits your house. The person that has the accident has to pay, not you if you did not have a part in chopping down the tree, and not you if you did not hire an illegal alien. We can not allow congress to pass the costs of illegal labor on to the public, in the form of lower social security benefits, more food stamps, more demands for HUD housing, and more demands to take care of aged parents who never worked in this country. Some cities are now charging non-resident accident victims for emergency services, like the response of a fire department truck. How can we say that those who hire illegal aliens are not deserving to bear the costs of their "accident", an accident that just happens to lower their labor costs? Taxing the public rather than the person benefiting from the accident creates a moral hazard. (2)
Congress must assure us that any bill ends this practice, and the only one that does that will have to assure us that costs will be borne by those who hire illegal aliens, not the public, and that no one here now, or planning to come here soon, who enters the country illegally will be allowed to stay.
More: http://standupvirginia.org/index.jsp?content_id=147&category_id=29
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Reform_and_Control_Act_of_1986
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard
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