Quote:
Originally Posted by JonnydaJibba
Why? Why pay a criminal? I see your point about their families, but that's not McDonalds fault. Well not completely. MickDees should be fined, punished, whatever for employing them.
People can't keep blaming everybody else for this problem except for the people that are breaking the law. It's pretty cut and dry: if you aren't a citizen, you can't work. If you hire illegals, you are breaking the law. Or are you at the point where it's only 40 people and it won't make a difference in the huge scheme of things?
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Hook, line, and sinker!
But seriously... first, yeah it's only 40 people... so this "crackdown" will have virtually ZERO effect on the problem of illegal immigration, but it will have a MASSIVE effect on the 40 families that are getting fucked with.
Second, immigrants come to this country illegally because there are jobs here... jobs that are being provided illegally. Get rid of the employers that willfully break the law, you get rid of the demand.
But more to the point, America *needs* illegal labor. Our economy needs people that are willing to work for cheap, especially in agriculture. I have a problem with the "you wanna come here, you better play by the rules" people that think this is a black and white issue. The system intentionally looks the other way on a regular basis to ensure we have the labor force here that prevents every farm in the US from being out-sourced. (As it is, even with illegal labor, we can barely compete with the price of fruits and vegetables being ground in foreign countries and shipped here.) Then, occasionally, the INS "cracks down" on illegals to show that we're fighting to uphold the laws... it's all political, makes no real difference in the "problem", and only hurts the poor families that are busted.
Now, I'm not saying we should just open up the borders... 'cause then the supply of labor would exceed the demand and the last thing we want is a bunch of
unemployed migrant workers (which would indeed be a drain on public services). But we certainly should have a *legal* program that allows migrant workers to be here on an easy-to-get pass, and we should grandfather current illegals into this system (aka amnesty for current illegals).
You get, say 2 years to work w/o a social security number and pay no taxes... so you're able to make a better life for your family. After those 2 years you're expected to either return to your country of origin (where you'll be allowed to get on the list for a new 2 year pass), or you can apply for permanent residency and go through the whole deal we're requiring right now for everyone. While in the US on the migrant worker pass, you are not eligible for social programs (since you don't pay taxes), and your employers are only required to pay you a lesser minimum wage (cheap labor != serfs!)
Or something like that...
Granted it won't fix the problem entirely, but it at least recognizes that the US economy requires this sort of labor force, and that the people in this labor force aren't criminals because they want to break the law, but because the risk is far lower than the reward of being able to provide for your family.
Hell, I'd be happy with leaving the current system alone, if people would just admit the hypocrisy inherent in the system.