Immigration Follies
One way to stem the flow of illegal immigrants would be to enforce existing labor laws.
By
Robert B. Reich
Web Exclusive: 03.29.06
Print Friendly |
Email Article
When it comes to allowing low-skilled immigrants into the United
States, Americans basically divide into two groups. The first wants to
hire them at low wages and doesn’t especially care whether they’re here
legally or illegally. The second group is anxious about too many of
them coming here -- worried they’re taking away jobs of American
citizens and use up too many public services.
So once again, as it has so many
times in the past, Congress is battling over immigration -- knowing
full well that any legislation that emerges will have to satisfy both
groups. This time the likely outcome will
say to employers: Don’t worry. You’ll have access to lots of what we’ll
call “guest” workers. And it will say to Americans who are anxious
about too many immigrants: Don’t worry. These guest workers will only
be here temporarily, and we’ll penalize employers who hire any
foreigner who’s not an official guest worker.
It’s a compromise that will
satisfy everybody but as a practical matter have absolutely no effect.
The biggest lesson we should have learned about immigration is this: As
long as there are lots of unskilled jobs in the United States that pay
much better than jobs in Latin America or Southeast Asia, and as long
as immigrants can fill them, immigrants will get here, somehow --
legally or illegally. Some will risk their lives getting here. And as
long as they can buy fake documents saying they’re here legally, their
employers will be able to say “Don’t blame me!"
So what’s the answer? There’s no
simple solution but one major step is to enforce basic labor laws that
require employers to pay all their employees the minimum wage and
protect their health and safety. You see, one of the main reasons
employers hire undocumented immigrants is that people who are here
illegally don’t complain when they’re paid below the minimum wage or
forced to work in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. So employers who
hire them can cut corners and save money without much risk they’ll be
caught. But if America’s basic labor laws
were truly enforced -- if there are enough state and federal inspectors
to increase the probability that an employer who breaks them will get
caught, and if the fines and penalties are big enough -- employers
won’t run the risk. And that would mean fewer jobs here for
undocumented immigrants. And if there were fewer jobs for them, fewer
of them would cross our borders illegally. But of course, my solution would
never get the support of employers, who will prefer -- with a wink and
a nod -- to accept the legislative fiction of “guest workers” and know
they'll never be prosecuted for hiring workers who appear to be
documented. And my solution would never satisfy other Americans who
think our basic labor laws are already being enforced, and don’t see
the connection between really enforcing them and reducing the numbers
of people crossing our borders illegally.
So instead we’re going to have
another big fight in Congress over immigration, resulting in another
set of laws that seem to satisfy both those who want lots of low-wage
immigrants and those who don’t want them. But as has been the case in
the past, the legislation will accomplish little except take
politicians off the hook for another few years until the immigration
issue blows up in their faces again.
Robert B. Reich is co-founder of The American Prospect. A version of this column originally appeared on Marketplace.
|