National Debt & Deficit Spending Illegal Immigration
There are two issues with Illegal Immigration:
1st Effective Control of our borders, and
2nd Effective documentation of non-citizen workers within our nation.
It is easy for legislators to pound the table with dire consequences for employers who "knowingly" hire illegal immigrants. This is self serving and unproductive. We must find a better way.
The reality is that much of the lowest layers of our economy works by employing those workers who will take the lowest pay. Illegal immigrants are the most willing to accept such pay. It is, after all, better pay than what they can get in their home nation.
My position on the borders is well published beginning with the Republican Convention in Casper two years ago:
First things first, fix the borders.
Ours is a global world with global transportation that whisks people around the world in a matter of hours.
Congress must put the resources to the Border Patrol to gain effective control of our borders. This is not just an illegal immigration issue.
The tougher nut to crack is that of enabling businesses to employ, legally, those foreign workers they feel they need to compete in a world market.
How can Congress enable that?
Many bristle at the thought of those businesses that knowingly employ illegals, yet the reality is that there is no good way for businesses to identify those willing to obtain well done forged documents.
I believe that it is first the responsibility of our government to provide adequate, difficult to forge, and readily available documentation to foreign workers. Further, the visa process must be sped up and the government must speak with one voice in any given case.
I have a close friend who operates the White Pine Ski Area in Pinedale. He has, at some expense, sought to comply with temporary worker rules only to founder on different interpretations of the rules between the Departments of Commerce and State. This cost him money.
After setting a good path on control of our borders Congress must:
1st - Set about establishing a documentation program so that those non-citizens legally within our nation may obtain employment where available.
This system must provide difficult to forge documentation, easily produced at border entry points, and usable wherever that person may go within the US. Quite simply business must find it easy to recognize that the holder is a legal non-citizen and hire him if appropriate.
Frequently a business must show a need for workers that cannot be filled with our own citizens. Congress must establish a means by which these workers, outside of the US, can locate and apply for such employment.
2nd – Set up a means by which businesses can comply with such laws without getting different answers from each government department involved. One method would be for Congress to require there to be a single answer provided by a liaison office established between appropriate departments with that office empowered to speak for both departments.
3rd – Only when these are in place should Congress then begin to require serious penalties for employers that knowingly hire illegal non-citizens. At that point Congress has fulfilled its responsibility and such prosecutions will be more than political grandstanding.
I believe that these actions are the responsibility of our government and should be a top priority of this nation.