Allowing Illegal Immigrants to Stay Here Illegally is un-American
We founded this country by bringing slaves against their will to our shores. We benefited from their cheap labor. We exploited them. We treated them in subhuman ways. We were wrong. Today we’re doing the same thing with illegal immigrants. We benefit from their cheap labor. We exploit them. We treat them in subhuman ways. We ARE wrong. It must stop.
Once we have secured our borders — today 700,000 people enter our southern border illegally each year — we must give illegals legal status. This would be my plan (of course I’m not in charge):
Assuming an existing illegal immigrant hadn’t committed a crime (other than minor traffic violations) since arriving in the United States they would be given two options. Option One: Return home and follow our rules to immigrate legally (we would expunge their illegal immigration from their record so they would be treated like any other immigrant). Option Two: Stay in the United States legally to live and work. After a period of 20 years (assuming they have paid their taxes and followed our laws) they could apply for citizenship. Again, we shouldn’t give lawbreakers a better deal than those immigrants willing to follow our laws.
My biggest problem with illegal immigration is the fact that it creates a criminal underclass in our society. Those employers willing to hire illegals often take advantage of the fact that these people are here illegally. Illegal workers are exploited — living as slaves in our supposedly free nation. Illegal workers often are forced to work in dangerous conditions, they’re paid less than the minimum wage, and they don’t have the benefit of our social safety nets — things like unemployment insurance. If an illegal worker gets hurt on the job he’ll lose his job and become homeless. It is against the law for employers to hire illegal immigrants TODAY. There are both civil and criminal fines and jail time including:
- First offenders can be fined $250-$2,000 per illegal employee.
- For a second offense, the fine is $2,000-$5,000 per illegal employee.
- Three or more offenses can cost an employer $3000-$10,000 per illegal employee. A pattern of knowingly employing illegal immigrants can mean extra fines and up to six months in jail for an employer.
- Employing ten or more illegal immigrants in one year can result in ten years of prison time for the employer.
When Obama took office he vowed to enforce these laws, but his administration’s “virtual” amnesty (i.e. not enforcing immigration laws) has extended to employers. We ought to go after the employer 10X more than we go after the immigrants — the employer has all of the power.
Allowing millions of illegal immigrants to remain in our country illegally is bad for THEM. We need to secure our border. We need to enforce the laws designed to prevent employers from exploiting illegal immigrants. We must offer legal status for those people who are here illegally. We need to increase the number of H1B Visas from 60,000/yr to 600,000/yr (we’ll need them if we stem the tide of 700,000 illegal immigrants a year).
