The Inconvenient Truth

“Money can't buy happiness, but neither can poverty.”

--Leo Rosten--

“Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing.”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson--

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

--Arthur Schopenhauer--

“Letting your customers set your standards is a dangerous game, because the race to the bottom is pretty easy to win. Setting your own standards--and living up to them--is a better way to profit. Not to mention a better way to make your day worth all the effort you put into it.”

--Seth Godin--

I have written several articles about Barack Obama. Now I think it is about time I wrote an article about an issue that none of the candidates in either party will discuss. It is illegal immigration. Yeah. I know that every candidate has discussed their stance on illegal immigration. This article is not about whether to lock up people that come here illegally. This article is not about punishment. It is about prevent. It is about the only prevention that has a chance of working. Prevent must begin and end with employers.

The American people have been bamboozled into looking mainly at the people coming into our country illegally, while ignoring why they come here. Debate regarding illegal immigration has centered on the unrealistic supply oriented, punish the immigrant, and build a wall theory. Yet, very few people have talked about the basic reality that people come here for jobs so if there are no or few jobs for illegal labor then the reason to come over here illegally goes away. Once the reason goes away so does the vast majority of the problem. But I doubt anyone is truly going to explore this fact because that would mean going against big business, small business, and moneyed interests.

Illegal immigration is outsourcing within the country. While politicians, including a bunch in our community, are ignoring this reality black folks as well as other Americans from every community are losing opportunities. It is not just about race, ethnicity, or culture. It is about money. Cheaper labor means higher profits. A penny saved means a penny earned. The money saved could be from cheaper wages or from lower labor standards that allow employers to work their employees hardier, longer, and with little or no benefits. The only difference between outsourcing and the use of illegal immigration is where the employer uses the employee. And the biggest benefit of using illegal immigrant labor is that they can not complain about low wages or labor standards because they will risk being fired, arrested, or even deported.

Ordinarily I would not have a problem with any employer looking for the cheapest, most efficient, most convenient employee that he/she can find. That is what anyone should have a right to do in a free market economy. However, when employers use illegal immigrant labor they are not just using a cheaper labor force. In most cases, they are importing poor people to exploit for an extra nickel while forcing everyone else to share the expense of that person being in the country. What am I talking about?

Many of the illegal immigrants come from countries that have a lower standard of living that may be why they come here for opportunity. However, when they initially come here they are not getting high paying jobs so they may start out poor, which means they require resources that are provided to the poor that are paid for by tax dollars. I know many of you that are reading this article must think I am some ultra conservative right wing anti-poor anti-immigrant nut that hates the poor. No. I am not. It is a reality that poor people need help from the government that is funded by tax dollars. This help may manifest itself through a drain on public schools or a drain on emergency room services in hospitals or other local services.

I do not have a problem with poor people and I do not have a problem with big, little, or no business. I have a problem with employers that make money off of poor illegal immigrants and expect the rest of us to share in their expense while they do not share the profits from the exploitation. Therefore the only real way to stop illegal immigration is to stop focusing on putting illegal immigrants in jail and start targeting employers. Any fines that an employer must pay must be greater than the profits that they have made off of their illegal immigrant labor. We should not only fine employers but we should put them in jail if necessary. The minute that there are little to no jobs for illegal immigrants in this country the issue of illegal immigration disappears.

By the way, if during this article you have read this article as an attack on the Hispanic community I would ask you to examine yourself, because I never mentioned any particular community in this article, until now. Furthermore, as a lawyer I have worked on several illegal entry cases that included people from Eastern Europe, India, Western Africa, and Mexico. Illegal immigration does not have a Hispanic face on it. Please do not buy into the propaganda. I do not blame people for leaving a place where there is less opportunity to go to a place where there is more opportunity. That is what my parents did when they migrated from the south to Chicago. I have a problem with employers that use people looking for an opportunity and expect the rest of us to pay for it.