Nothing in here to scare illegal employers

[SHRED]

No jail time.
No big fines.
No asset forfeiture.

Why?

http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/summary/s.1070pshs.doc.htm


---

[tekisui]

1. Our immigration laws are overtly racist. They have been since they

were first written.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. That's because they're good for business!

:banghead:

[jwirr]

3. The only true answer is to go after employers. They are the lure to

come here. If they truly need workers that do not exist in the US already then let them use legal means of getting them.

[Fumesucker]

4. Because most of the illegal employers are Republicans..

You don't bite the hand that feeds you.

[spin]

5. Employers love a slave class to underpay and mistreat ...

if we had a Congress that wasn't bought and paid for by the big corporations, we would have a rational immigration policy.

Mexican workers would have better pay and benefits and legal protection from abusive employers. They wouldn't have to pay large sums of money to be smuggled into our country and they wouldn't have to cross a desert to get work.

Each year there are several hundred migrant deaths along the Mexico-U.S. border of those attempting to cross into the United States from Mexico without authorization from the Federal government of the United States.<1> The number of deaths has steadily increased since the middle 1990s with exposure (including heat stroke, dehydration, and hyperthermia) being the leading cause.<2>

According to the United States Border Patrol, 1,954 people died crossing the U.S–Mexico border between the years 1998-2004.<3> In the fiscal year ending September 29, 2004, 460 migrants died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.<4> In 2005, more than 500 died across the entire U.S.-Mexico border.<5> The number of yearly border crossing deaths has doubled since 1995.<6> Yet the statistics cited by scholars and the media are merely the number of known deaths and do not include those who have never been found, grossly underestimating the actual number of migrants that have died attempting unauthorized border crossings.<7>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migrant_deaths_along_the_Mexico_%E2%80%93_United_States_border

US vows crackdown on illegal immigrant worker abuse

MEXICO CITY, June 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. government under President Barack Obama plans to step up prosecutions of employers who abuse illegal immigrants on the job, a senior U.S. immigration official said in Mexico on Friday.

"(There are) employers who employ illegal labor in abusive conditions, don't pay them the minimum wage, make them work hours beyond the 40-hour week work, don't pay them overtime," said John Morton, who heads the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

"I intend to try to identify and prosecute those people much more vigorously than in the past," Morton told a small group of reporters at the U.S. Embassy after meeting with Mexican officials.

After just three weeks on the job, Morton traveled to Mexico to discuss security along the U.S.-Mexican border, which stretches about 2,000 miles (4,800 km).
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN05306025

According to a recent and intensely disturbing article in The New York Times, based on dozens of interviews and the outcomes of numerous lawsuits and government enforcement efforts, immigrant janitors undergo all sorts of abuse. They're routinely denied overtime pay, in part because they're deliberately misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees. They're pressured to work seven-day weeks with no time off for sick days, let alone vacation, and threatened with dismissal if they complain. And they're rewarded with a measly wage that can dip as low as $3.50 per hour.

That pencils out to just $28-a-day. Imagine trying to support a family on such a pittance. It's hard enough to do on the California minimum wage, which clocks in at a more respectable $6.75 per hour.

In fact, it is a wonder that companies find people who are willing to work for so little money and under such horrible conditions, but they do. And many of those who accept these jobs, and put up with these conditions, are illegal immigrants with limited options.

That's the whole point. Horror stories such as these are important and useful. They serve as a reminder of why there are so many illegal immigrants in the United States. It's because there are so many U.S. employers eager to hire them. And the reason for that is because they're such an attractive commodity.

What isn't attractive is the abuse of workers. State and federal authorities should continue to aggressively enforce existing labor laws to prevent wage theft, fraud, and mistreatment of employees. When appropriate, companies that owe workers back pay should be forced to make good on those debts and pay hefty fines. emphasis added

It's simple economics. Americans can pound their chests all they want, but they won't get rid of illegal immigrants until they get rid of the economic incentive to hire them.
http://www.workpermit.com/news/2005_07_22/us/immigrant_janitors.htm

Surely we can come up with an immigration policy that works to provide opportunity and protection for Mexican workers and opens a path for those who are currently living in our country illegally to become citizens.

Mexicans are incredibly hard workers. I have had work site supervisors tell me that they are the best workers on the job. They deserve much better treatment by both the employers and our government.

[EFerrari]

6. Because the Republicans are trying to raise $$$

for campaigns and they won't do that by threatening employers. They need to go after the brown people, that's what will open wallets in their base.