Immigration amnesty and the value of labor

Granting amnesty (aka guest worker status) to the millions of illegal immigrants without first protecting our borders serves the financial interests of business owners, not the workers. Without secure borders businesses will continue to pay less for labor than they would if illegal immigration were halted.

One big reason weighting the labor cost issue in favor of the business owner—when the owner is able to employ an illegal immigrant—is the obvious reluctance of the illegal immigrant to demand fair labor practices lest he or she be deported.

With the worker unwilling to speak up, the ameliorating effects of a democratic government on the adverse (monopolistic) tendencies of capitalism are negated. Demonstrating in support of illegal immigration is not the same as demonstrating for workers' rights. It is absurdly irrational to argue to allow the standard of living for our workers to be lowered because workers from Mexico will accept a lower standard in our country. How low are we supposed to go? Without secure borders or sanctions on employers of illegal immigrants, workers living standards and fair labor practices will head south ... pun intended.

That is the core issue.

The fact that some workers side with the illegal immigrants who are willing to take jobs for less than what would otherwise be the prevailing wage—or fair labor standards—is not a rational position for labor to take.

Keeping the cost of goods low is the big benefit of slavery. Do we want to drive wages and labor standards down to the point where the quality of life for workers is so degrading that it correlates with slavery?

Once the borders are secure, we can then regulate employment with minimum wages, payment of payroll taxes, and fair labor standards ... protecting the workers and our way of life. Do we really want the globalization of sweat shops and child labor?

No amnesty (aka guest worker program) without secure borders—period!

One other thing, if there is going to be a felony attached to illegal immigration, it should be for the hiring of an illegal immigrant by the business owner. Those who argue that convicting business owners would be too difficult are throwing up a smoke screen to block the cases that would test the efficacy of this solution ... a solution that works quite well in other white color crime areas to put the fear of the long arm of the law in those who might otherwise conspire to circumvent the law.