<p>They are illegal and employers are breaking the law by hiring them. Having a price floor or not wouldn’t necessarily fix anything because employers would hire them and pay below the price floor.</p>
<p>It depends on the industry. There are many industries that are hiring large numbers of illegals with false or sem-false credentials and paying them legal wages.</p>
<p>You guys shouldn't mess around with cult figures on CC. UCLAri knows his **** :cool:</p>
<p>No no, I'm glad to have people challenge me. It helps me develop my arguments better anyway.</p>
<p>Fine then, UCLAri...</p>
<p>UCB > UCLA...</p>
<p>Because US News says so! AND WHAT !</p>
<p>The employer is still required to know who he is hiring. If they fail to do background checks, then the employer could be responsible for negligent hiring. If the illegal is hired with false documentation, then they are given the impression that they are legal, thus meeting minimum wage requirements for legal workers. That is not the issue. The issue is knowingly hiring illegals.</p>
<p>Well, keep in mind that many employers are getting the information in a form that's been altered well-enough that it can't really be told with 100% accuracy how accurate the credentials are. </p>
<p>I do agree that the BEST way to stop the hiring of illegals is to VERY prodigiously punish companies hiring them, but we can do many many things to complement such a policy.</p>
<p>Very true. There are laws currently in place to punish employers that knowingly hire illegal workers, but the problem is that it is rarely being enforced.</p>
<p>Well, I tend to look for the faucet when I need to stop the flow of water. To me, the whole "let's put up a big wall!"-style of thinking is like getting more mops instead.</p>
<p>Employers hire illegals because they're cheap and they tend to work fairly hard. Get rid of the cheap part (or make it too dangerous) and they'll stop hiring. If employers aren't hiring, illegals won't come.</p>
<p>And then you've turned off the faucet that the very thirsty immigrants seek to drink from.</p>
<p>But still, it's more fun to throw rocks at the Iri...Mexicans.</p>
<p>I think you are getting my point.</p>
<p>Oh, I don't think I ever disagreed. I just believe that we should pursue many avenues, and not just one.</p>
<p>That and I think that it's funny watching people squirm at the idea of getting rid of price floors.</p>
<p>"Very true. There are laws currently in place to punish employers that knowingly hire illegal workers, but the problem is that it is rarely being enforced."</p>
<p>I agree and there is another reason for this. A lot of governments (local, state, and federal) are influenced by big business and small business in some cases. It is in the businesses best interest to hire illegal labor. So what these companies do is that they send lobbyists to convince government members (who in turn have somewhat of an influence of law enforcement) that these rules should not be enforced as much as they should be.</p>
<p>Getting rid of a price floor could hurt legal Americans in the industries that are slowly being dominated by illegal workers. It could drive the wages below the current price floor. However, many legal citizens will not work in the industries that pay minimum wage. So a price floor would have no impact for many, but could impact those that lack sufficient education and skills (drop outs, teenage employment, etc.)</p>
<p>The problem with these illegal aliens is that a large chunk of the revenue they reap from the U.S. is being sent back to Mexico where their relatives live. One of Mexico's largest sources of income is traced to this practice- not suprising as there are currently more than twenty million illegals currently residing in the U.S.
I'm glad the government has decided to more extensively address the state of our porous borders right now.</p>
<p>^Yes, but still, companies are able to keep highher profits while you have cheaper groceries.</p>
<p>↑ I suppose if you excluded the fleecing immigrants have innundated upon Americans living on the border states in the way of taxes and property damage while crossing the border. Reading this quote from the Wall Street Journal you get a sense of what these people have to go through:</p>
<p>Most are decent folks caught up in the daily invasion of illegals who tramp across their land. Ranchers in hard-hit areas spend the first hours of every day repairing damage done the night before. They find fences knocked down and water spigots left on, draining thousands of precious gallons. And then there’s the trash: pill bottles, syringes, used needles, and pile after pile of human feces...One rancher told me about illegals who rustled one of her newborn calves. The intruders beat the twelve-hour-old animal to death with a fence post, then barbequed it on the spot.”</p>
<p>Um, you don't really think EVERYONE coming from Mexico is like that, do you? It's the media telling you this; they just want to put on a story so you'll buy the damn paper.</p>
<p>HMC,</p>
<p>You do realize that money going to Mexico benefits the US in the long run, right?</p>
<p>The $17 billion that illegals sent to Mexico in 2004 alone is the result of 5 million jobs that have shifted to the underground economy in the U.S. I see no benefits in this from any perspective.</p>
<p>That money will go and develop the Mexican economy, providing a stronger partner in NAFTA and trade in general. Mexico is already one of our largest trade partners, this will only make it a larger one.</p>
<p>These dollars will develop Mexico's economy, creating jobs and raising per capita GDP to the point where Mexicans will no longer feel the need to come to the US. No, it's not a short-term effect. It's a long-term one. However, don't imagine that these dollars just "disappear" and stop benefitting us.</p>