Illegal Employer Problem

Thom Hartmann has a great opinion article "It's an Illegal Employer problem" about the illegal immigration issue.

My own opinion is very similar. It's amazing about how illegal employers are so open about their practice. A friend of mine told me that her father fired the American workers from his small business & hired illegal workers from Brazil, noting that they work harder & for less money/benefits. WTF! No one would randomly admit their father sells narcotics on the side, but it's cool I suppose to break the law by employing illegal immigrants.

The current debate on illegal immigration, the focus is on the immigrant, who are characterized as either felons or victims.

In my view, in most all matters in economics, demand drives supply. This is a given in Supply Chain Management that no one questions. In my view, it's the same with illegal employers (demand) that drive the migration illegal workers (supply).

If I were President, I would try to make illegal employment a felony offense for the CEO & hiring managers of a company, with a 3rd offense being real hard-core prison where violence (or rape, nh) would be a real possibility. This would scare employers from adhering to the law. Illegal immigrants would start going back, or at least new ones would stop coming, as their employment opportunity vanished. To those of you that say "Americans won't do certain jobs", I reference to you states like Idaho or Maine whose economies function without illegal immigrants.

My 2nd thrust, which is my own theory not covered in the Hartmann article, would be to remove most favored nation trade status (MFN) with China, and reward it to countries from the Americas, on condition of adhering to a certain minimum human rights, labor, & environmental standards. It's incredible to me how most Americans seem to not care about regional economic development of Mexico & other Americas countries. It's not only altruistic, it's economic common sense, since if Americas' economies improves, they're more likely to buy from USA companies than Europe or Asia. This will even be more true if transportation costs increase due to oil becoming more expensive. They will also be less illegal immigrants as those economies improve. My understanding is that the European Union has validated this theory, with the rich Euros like the UK & Germany trading heavily with the ex-communist East Euros like Romania & Latvia. Why don't we learn from the EU and develop the Americas region?

Anyways, next time you hear someone complain about illegal immigration, challenge them by telling them it's an illegal employer problem.

Truth Hunter also has an opinion today on this issue.