letter to American Border Patrol: what about employers?

[yurbud]

The American Border Patrol is the group chasing migrants in the desert in the Southwest



TO: [e-mail]


Question: what about employers?

I don't believe we should have open borders, and I definitely disapprove of the idea of "guest workers" who are second class citizens.

That said, has your group considered pressuring employers not to hire illegal aliens? (I looked around your website and couldn't find this).

It would be a lot easier to find the employers than the migrants at the border, there are fewer of them, and legal sanctions and public shaming would have far more effect than it does on a migrant who has nothing to lose.

I live in LA, and know that some Beverly Hills housewife would never hire an illegal housekeeper again after one night in jail, and it's not hard to find the farmers who use migrant labor--you can see them as you drive by on the freeway.

If you make it less attractive to hire migrants, there will be fewer jobs for them here, and word will filter back to Mexico and reduce the number who want to come here.

If the goal is to protect American jobs, this would be an effective way to do it.

[Fridays Child]

1. Excellent. Let us know if he responds.

nt

[satireV]

2. Employers WANT undocumented workers

And I am talking about employers who use ONLY legally residing immigrants and those who use illegal immigrants.

I recently talked with a man who runs a landscaping business in Phoenix. He said he wants to close down the border and stop all immigration of Mexican into Arizona. He said he only hires legal residents and pays them minimum wage.

I pointed out that businesses hiring undocumented worker allows him to do that. If all undocumented workers were prevented from working, the worker pool would shrink greatly and he would have to pay a higher wage.

Somehow he didn't want to hear this, he denied he would have to pay higher wages. He just said he would refuse to pay the higher wage.

[havocmom]

3. Building construction down in AZ using them too

So much for the argument that they only take jobs Americans won't take!

If the government REALLY wants to stop the flow of illegals, they would give up chasing people in the desert and bust the humps of the employers creating the environment which entices the flow. People are getting very rich preying on these people AND empoverishing workers in the US.

National borders? They are a myth. There is only greed.

National security? A ruse. There is only protection for the greedy.

Workers, foreign and domestic? They are heading toward being slaves.

[TX-RAT]

4. bust the humps of the employers creating the environment

Top notch idea, how would you go about doing that?

[yurbud]

5. It's not hard to do

drive by farms

ask housekeepers waiting for buses for papers, then instead of busting them, go with them to work and handcuff the rich bitch who opens the door.

sweatshops are easy to find too.

One night in jail and a criminal record would do more than any fine for these people.


I don't really care about this issue one way or the other. I think immigrants have more drive than people who have been here a couple of generations, and they keep us fresh.


I would prefer to see wages rise elsewhere in the world, so people don't feel the need to come and our businesses don't feel the need to go.

Instead, corporate America is taking us on a race to the bottom, and because Mexico is further down the food chain, people are climbing up to us to survive.

[havocmom]

8. Easy, INS shows up at work places and requires proof that workers are

legal. If there are undocumented workers, arrest the bosses and take them to trial. No deals, no plea bargains. Prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.

When I hired people, I was required by law to have copies of every employee's documentation. There could be spot inspections at any time. Obviously, this is not being taken seriously, not enforced, not prosecuted. If everyone was subject to punishment in reality and not just in the letter of the law, this shit would stop.

Bust the employers. Throw them in jail, fine them heavily. Make it hurt so they obey the law. They must be saving a mess of $ and/or be reasonably sure they will not be held accountable for breaking laws or they wouldn't be doing it. They won't stop until they are made uncomfortable enough to change their behavior.

The laws are there. They should be enforced. As it is, we have people, US and Mexican citizens in great danger, we spend resources fighting a pretend war against illegal immigration all for show for the masses and the employers are making financial gains because they can still hire illegals. One more form of corporate welfare but this one is combined with class war/i]fare too. Poor Mexicans get abused, US workers get shafted, US taxpayers pay for the side show pretense of 'stemming the flow' of illegal entrants.

Oh, and by the way, the border patrol could be expending manpower looking out for really dangerous border violators instead of doing round ups of the usual suspects over and over and over. Wonder what possible threats to Homeland Security might be making it through under the cover of odds while so many workers are coming in.

Bust the employers. Bust them majorly. It is easier and safer than chasing people across the desert. More productive too.

[yurbud]

6. AMERICAN BORDER PATROL RESPONDS

From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Question: what about employers?
Date: April 11, 2005 8:56:25 AM PDT

There is one border line. There are at least 50,000,000 places where illegals can be hired.

[yurbud]

7. REPLY to REPLY

Thank you for your quick reply.

Just to be clear, I saw on your contact page that you are here in Southern California too, so we probably see the same things everyday. So when you drive by the migrants picking berries you don't get mad at the farmer who hired them at all, just at the migrants?

Hell, even without bothering the employers, that would be an easier way to pick up illegals and it wouldn't require any four wheel drives along the 1300 mile long US-Mexico border.

If we jailed or fined the employer do you think that would make more or less of an impression on him than dumping a migrants back across the border does on them?

Frankly, if I owned a farm and I saw you American Border Patrol guys outside my house fully armed, I'd consider changing my business practices.

We probably agree on one point, that the outsourcing of jobs hurts American workers, and our lax border policy is a form of outsourcing by bringing cheap labor here.

Those who are benefitting from this the most though are the businesses and individuals who employee illegals to avoid our labor and tax laws. If they don't feel any discomfort, what are the chances the situation will change?

[yankeedem]

9. You're missing the point

They don't want to pursue the employers, because they are WHITE.
They want to pursue the employees, because they are BROWN.

It's very simple. My suggestion of course, is to yank the charter of any business that hires illegals, even one. Business operates at the pleasure of the state, therefore the privledge can be taken away.

[yurbud]

10. I want them to say those first two lines

instead of putting words in their mouth

It's the Socratic method.

It's easy to deny an accusation, it's something else when you accuse yourself.

[Djinn]

11. it's class not colour

as it almost always is. Punishing employers who hire illegals would be relatively easy, the fall out though would be that without acess to people willing to work for wages that don't even feed their families employers would have to provide better wages and conditions and others would no longer be able to use the threat of hiring illegals to keep legal, workers wages down - you don't need to make that threat explicit, your workers just need to know that if their job could be done by an undocumented worker it may well be next week, that unspoken threat is handy when you need to keep wages and conditions down and unions out.

it's the same reason why the employing class would HATE to see the unemployment levels drop significantly, it would mean workers would suddenly have a lot more bargaining power and that's the LAST thing they want.