Immigration Reform...How To Make It Work

As mentioned in my previous post, I have some ideas regarding how we can work toward reducing illegal immigration into our country. The first item is to stop lying and come out with the real reasons for the reform. No, we are not building a wall on our southern border because of the terrorist threat. We are building the wall for a much less PC reason; we just don't like Mexicans in this country because they don't like to integrate into our society. I know what you're saying...this can't possibly be true. Well, how come we're not building a fence on the Canadian border? After all, the only 2 terrorist attempts caught coming across any land border were caught on the Canadian border, not the Mexican one, right? Not to mention that some of the 9/11 hijackers came to the US via Canada.

Once we accept that this is the one true reason, we can examine the root causes of the problem. The reason immigrants come to this country is work. As I mentioned before, most of them don't care about becoming citizens. This is a new issue in our immigration history. European and Asian immigrants, being so far away from their countries of origin, had no other option than to integrate into the American melting pot. Latin American immigrants; however, are able to move back and forth from their country with relative ease, rendering the need for citizenship null.

I say null because, although the law in our country states that no EMPLOYER can hire illegal workers, many do. We argue that immigrants should be sent back because they broke the law. This is true. But the only reason for them to undertake this illegal action, is the fact that American companies will break the law to hire them. Can you blame then immigrant for taking advantage of the situation? I can't.

This leads me to the first suggestion. Instead of targeting the individual, go after the company that hires them. "We already do this" you say. Well, not really. When INS raids a factory, they arrest the workers. I have yet to see the owner of the company being handcuffed and taken away with the rest of them. This is one option on the enforcement side. Make company CEO's and other top executives criminally liable for the company's hiring practices. If they weren't aware of it, they should have and I can guarantee you, from that point on, they will be.

But, how to prevent it in the first place? Simple. Say you're an employer that hires illegal workers. Now, let's say the Government finds out and fines you $1000 per illegal worker. If you have 100 worker, you just got hit for $100k dollars.

Now, let's say that you save $10/week on payroll over what you would pay a citizen worker and they have been working for you for an average of 3 years. This means you saved a total of $156000 on payroll. Considering you spent no money on benefits, your savings can be considerably higher. So, even after the fine, you still saved, at a minimum, $56K. See where this is going?

To make a real impact, our government needs to get serious about these fines. This doesn't only apply to illegal immigration. How about EPA standards and OSHA regulations, etc.? If companies don't feel the pain of breaking the law, why would they stop?

The other side of the coin is over the border itself. Be honest now, if you were in Mexico and had an opportunity to come to this country and make a better living for your family, you would do it too. So, instead of spending billions of dollars on war, how about we spend millions on peace? Injecting some funds into the Mexican economy would help. This could be done as an international loan through World Bank. Another option is for Mexico to mandate that foreign companies looking to do business in their country pay wages and offer benefits equivalent to those in the country of origin. To keep investment from leaving due to the higher payroll, Mexico could offer some tax incentives to the corporation.

The point is simple. Capitalism runs on buying power. The more people make, the more they spend. We now this to be true in our country. Rather than "Spreading Democracy", why don't we focus on "Spreading Capitalism and Education". After all, the more educated people are, the less they will tolerate corruption (a real problem in most of Latin America). The less corruption, the more chances for Capitalism to grow.

Mexico is a great and beautiful country that, if properly governed and managed, would certainly give the US a run for its money with the sheer number of natural and human resources they possess. Hummmm...come to think of it, maybe that's another reason we'd rather they not progress.