Spoiler Alert! There is a simple solution to the immigration debacle at our southern border, and it has been available for decades. Unfortunately, it does not fit within the parameters of the Big Business interests that benefit from the status quo. Therefore, as far as the mainstream media is concerned, it doesn't exist.
Nevertheless, as far back as 1986, there has been federal law (the Immigration and Reform Act) that imposed civil and criminal penalties for employers who hire illegal workers. The penalties for employers, however, were minor fines and six months in jail, but they were rarely carried out.
As time passed, and more undocumented workers from south of the border came into the U.S., primarily looking for work, nothing changed. In 2005, Matthew Reindl, the owner of a family-owned woodworking business testified before Congress: "To my knowledge, not one employer in the last few years has been jailed for hiring an illegal alien."
Jump to 2019 when the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse released these important data: "During the last twelve months (April 2018 - March 2019) only 11 individuals (and no companies) were prosecuted in just 7 cases. ... [T]he odds of being criminally prosecuted for employing undocumented workers appears to be exceedingly remote. Indeed, since criminal penalties for employers were first enacted by Congress in 1986, few employers have ever been prosecuted."
So there you have it. Employers who hire undocumented workers for their businesses, which are mainly in the service industry, farming, and construction and maintenance, continue to hire illegals because they rarely receive any penalties. As a result, they pay these workers less than American workers, exploit them with impunity, and bring down the national wage scale.
As Bernie Sanders has lamented, "This is a process by which we can bring low-wage labor of all levels into this country to depress wages for Americans. And I strongly disagree with it."
To be fair, Democrats and Republicans alike have exploited the immigration crisis because they are beholden to the same companies that give them campaign contributions, especially the Border States, like Texas.
According to Jay Root of The Texas Tribune, "In Texas, lawmakers don't mess with employers of undocumented workers. For all their condemnations of illegal immigration, Texas lawmakers -- Republican and Democratic -- have shown little interest in cracking down on businesses that employ undocumented workers."
And despite Donald Trump's tough talk about immigration and how illegals are "poisoning the blood" of our country, it's common knowledge that for years Trump hired undocumented employees to build and work on his golf courses.
In defense of hiring illegals, the most common refrain from politicians and businessmen is: "Illegal immigrants do the work Americans won't do." Really?
Several years ago I attended an academic conference about immigration where the audience consisted mainly of college students. And when that argument was brought up, I asked for a show of hands of how many students would pick fruit on a farm for minimum wage with no benefits.
Almost no one raised their hand. But when I asked how many would do it for a decent wage with decent benefits, almost everyone raised their hand. After all, American-born employees work as roofers, construction workers, and coal miners -- all tough jobs - so why wouldn't they work in the fields if they were paid a decent wage?
In response to this logic, the same politicians and businessmen use this defense: "Well, if you want farmers to pay their workers higher wages, they'll have to charge a lot more for produce!"
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