McCainmentum, Illegal Immigration, and a Solution
This is my first front page post to Control Congress, and I would like to thank John for allowing me to post to this forum.
Lately I have been finding myself having less and less of an issue of the candidacy of Sen. John McCain and it prompted me to start figuring out why I had a problem in the first place. One glaring blemish was his sponsorship of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Law. A close second was his absolute tone-deafness on the immigration issue.
The rehabilitation of my opinion of McCain’s has come about because the issue of immigration has been pushed way down on the list of topics covered by the media, blogs and debates. Out of sight, out of mind. After giving it some thought, my opinion once again sagged and he was once again returned to un-desirable status.
Having shared this revelation with another blogger who was supportive of McCain, I was challenged to describe my view of what should be done with immigration. It was a very fair request, as it is not right to criticize something, if you cannot offer something better as an alternative. So I came up with the following:
For anything that attempts to alter human behavior to be successful, it must take into account basic human psychology. People generally take the path of least perceived resistance, do more of what earns them rewards and perform less of what earns them punishment. Illegals abuse the current system because it is the easiest route, has no real punishments and they get what they want (the reward). A successful plan has to change each of those.
The Tax Man
The first step is to enforce the powerful array of law already in place. That law is none other than the US Federal and State Tax Codes. Each employer is required by Federal and State laws (in the states with income tax) to collect tax withholdings and pay those funds quarterly. Even if the money is not paid, it is also a requirement to report all wages over $500 to the IRS. One way in which illegals are able to find work is that they work under the table, cash only, with nothing reported to the IRS. This is tax fraid on behalf of the business, as it is not only paying withholding, but is also not paying payroll taxes, unemployment compensation or Medicare.
The other method is for the illegals to use a forged, stolen, or borrowed social security numbers. This is identity theft. Wages reported under someone elses name or social security number could result in a non-compliance audit, and any criminal activity under that assumed name could cause legal trouble for the victim. This is also a crime, and should be prosecuted.
New Law
Next, new law needs to be in place. The first is to have an instant web based Social Security verification service. The employer would only have to plug in the prospective employees Social Security Number, date of birth, sex and name. The employer would then be sent a status for that individual of “Unable to Verify”, “Citizen”, “Resident Alien”, etc. Use of this system, including retaining copies of the photo id and the Social Security card would then be used to demonstrate due diligence on behalf of the employer.
The second would be to enact huge penalties on the employer for actually hiring an illegal without doing due diligence to verify their employability status. Successful evidence of following the above procedure would be adiquate proof that the employer acting in good faith, but lack of that evidence would be considered willful ignorance and treated the same as if it was committed intentionally. Penalties would include confiscation of business property as contraband to a felony as well as prison sentences for the company officers and managers responsible for compliance with Federal law. A lifetime ban with doing business with any project that receives Federal funds would be another penalty.
Third, a new class of immigrant needs to be developed, the Visiting Worker Visa. This would be a Visa that is exceptionally easy for law abiding people to obtain and renew. The Visa would only be granted in the person country of origin, would be valid for 2 years, requiring a one month stay back in their home country with automatic renewal. Failure to exit the US before the expiration of the Visa would result in a lifetime ban from ever entering the US again legally. This Visa would allow the bearer and the bearer alone to live and work in the USA under the same conditions as a resident alien, provided the additional conditions of the Visa are followed with good faith.
The additional conditions of the Visiting Worker Visa would be that the employer must pay a bond of $5,000 bond to the Federal Government to insure compliance with the law. Upon return of the visiting work to their host country the employer will be refunded the bond. Additionally, the program will levy a $1,000 a year tax on the employer for each visiting worker they hire. This tax would go to program enforcement, as would forfeit bonds.
The revenue generated by the program would be used to fund the various forms of enforcement. The bonds in particular would be used to fund bounties and rewards leading to the capture and deportment of illegals.
SSI
The next step is to put both resident and visiting immigrant labor on the same playing field. This means that SSI needs to be collected, and there needs to be some benefit to the employee. My proposal is that half of the 15% collected for SSI (the employee share) be collected in a special account and returned to the immigrant when they return to their home country. Two years of making $20,000 a year would mean $3,000. This is a fairly good incentive to self deport. Additionally, the employer contribution would be used as normal to fund the SSI program in general, which the visiting worker would be ineligable for. The fact that these funds are collected, however, opens the possibility that the USA could enter into agreements with other countries to help fund some form of retirement in the visiting workers home country.
This would put the cost of hiring immigrants who would otherwise be illegal on par with hiring resident aliens and citizens who have the tax law compliance costs associated with them. It would then be crystal clear if these jobs are given to illegals because “American won’t do them” or if it is just so much cheaper to higher illegals.
The Carrot and the Big Stick
The beauty of this plan is that it rewards compliance in a fair way, but it also punishes very harshly non compliance. Why would any employer face prison time and loss of their business to save a few bucks on an illegal. Also, since the program would fund bounties and rewards for turning in illegals, legal immigrants would have a big incentive to turn in former bosses, and fellow workers competing for the same jobs.
Further, since the employer has money tied up, he has an incentive to make sure the worker returns to his country of origin to collect his bond. Further incentives could be added by increasing the bonds for low levels of compliance. For example, if compliance is 90% or under, then double the required bond on future guest workers. For each 10% drop in compliance level, double it again. 0% compliance would mean a $5 million bond per visiting work. No one would pay that, so either the company gets its visiting workers back to their home country, or they do not hire them.
Conclusion
Immigration reform is doable in a way that satisfies National Security interests, the need for workers in certain categories of employment, protects the American worker, and rewards compliance and punishes lawlessness. The answer is to stop using it as a wedge issue and enact a common sense approach to the problem. If McCain would support such a plan, and admit his campaign finance reform law was a mistake, I could actually vote for the guy.
Very Good Post!!
Oh yeah.
Forget about the basics and create a nightmare.
What ever happened to personal references, prior work history, and the ability to handle an interview?
No references. No job.
No prior work history. No job.
Bad interview. No job.
All within the current framing of law.
Illegal employers.
Mad Dog
What is your solution?
Doug
Thanks for taking the time to post something, but from my perspective what I see in your “solution” is replacing a system that should work but isn’t enforced with another system.
.
In short, it doesn’t address the problem.
David,
Part of my solution is to use existing law. How is that not addressing the problem?
How exactly does anything I post “not address the problem”.
You and Mad Dog would be a lot more interesting to read if you posted some supporting fact with your opinions so people understand your objections.
Anchor baby citizenship must end as part of any solution. Illegal entry must carry a more serious label – felony. Local and state law enforcement must be able to enforce the immigration laws. All remittances to Mexico must carry at least 15% fee to the state treasury from the state it was transmitted from. Any unpaid health care costs must be deducted from wages. If they are not paid, then visa is revoked immmediates. And we need to have a complete barrier fence to stop human and drug smuggling.
Doug
Something prevents these people from enforcing the law. This gives rise to the “tinfoil hat” types, which I’m always willing to check out. I think Jerome Corsi may have a grasp of what’s going on here. We’re talking about plans to merge the United States, Canada and Mexico a.k.a. a “North American Union”. And another problem is, many of our lawmakers have probably been caught “with their pants down” and “caught in the act” (with some glossy photos)
LMAO!
“You and Mad Dog would be a lot more interesting to read if you posted some supporting fact with your opinions so people understand your objections.”
You must be unemployed, eh?
So you don’t understand the employment application process.
An applicant fills out this long questionaire called an application for employment.
The questionaire asks for an ‘employment history.’
A prospective employer tries to verify that employment history. If the potential employee lies, well, in the real world, a lying applicant doesn’t get hired.
If the employment history does check out, the applicant also can be asked to furnish a credit history, personal references, and two forms of federally approved ID, plus proof of a clean driving record, if needed.
Plus, there’s that sit down and talk to me thing called an interview? It’s one of those real world ‘facts’ you say is missing from my ‘opinion.’
“Supporting facts?”
Doug,
If you pulled your head out of that dark, smelly hole, you might get a factoid or two.
Until then, in the real world, NO ONE IS FORCING EMPLOYERS TO HIRE UNQUALIFIED, IGNORANT, UNEXPERIENCED, NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING JOB APPLICANTS!
It’s one of those ‘choice’ things you really, really don’t understand.
EMPLOYERS CHOOSE TO HIRE LATINOS WITH NO WORK HISTORY, NO PERSONAL REFERENCES, NO CREDIT HISTORY, and no DRIVING RECORDS.
Since you don’t have any real world experience, or you just choose to lie like a whore, bite me.
MD
The employer should have to deduct all cost associated with healthcare and taxes up front on all workers who are not U.S. citizens. . Also immigrant workers shouldn’t be eligible for social serviceunless they pay a fee and no welfare.
Ga,
Yeah, I meant to add a part about automatic citizenship would only be granted to children of parents who are citizens, and legal resident aliens.
Children of visiting workers would not extend citizenship unless the other parent was eligible.
If we do not fix NAFAT and CAFTA it will just be an end around our immigration policy!
Mad Dog,
I am glad you expounded upon your original post. It would appear that you do not understand the proposal at all. The point is not to give employers help in finding illegals, but to remove all excuses from those that break Federal law in their hiring practices.
MD
Why do you think employers hire illegal immigrants?
John,
Because they actually WORK…I know that is a novel concept and blows all your anti-worker rhetoric, but employers generally want to hire employees who will fulfill job tasks with as little trouble as possible.
bb,
So, it has nothing to do with saving money and not having to pay taxes? The one and only reason is because they “work” and Americans don’t?
It is fashionable to put down the American worker, but Americans work longer hours, work more days, and are more productive overall and per hour than any other country except maybe South Korea.
Doug
Bart thinks tax payers should help pay for a illegal work force He really thinks that is free market! Bart is BUSH LIKE!
I agree with every word that Doug wrote. Every. Single. Word.
I have to agree with MD on this one, even if his attitude and language are gutter like. It is true that there are plenty of laws already in place that need to be enforced.
However, just recently, The SSA was sued for sending out what are called “no match” letters that tell employers that a SS number doesn’t match the name. So how the heck are we going to enforce the law if the ACLU types are doing all they can to stop the law from being enforced?
Doug,
Yes, in many (most) cases it has more to do with work ethic than money.
Do not misconstrue my post as being anti-American worker. If anything, I believe American workers have progressed beyond doing menial work for minimum wage. Thus the need for hard working immigrants to fulfill the jobs hard working Americans long ago quit doing.
John,
Thanks again for yet another inane post totally foreign to the topic at hand. Do you ever stop and think prior to clicking on the ‘Submit Comment’ tab?
Joe,
If my mind isn’t in the gutter, my language will be.
Doug has no understanding of the normal hiring practices of law abiding employers.
He thinks the most complicated, obtuse, and twisted solution would be best.
Those who honor the law, should be rewarded, not punished.
Those weasels that intentionally hire the illegal worker is an illegal, criminal employer.
No illegal employers means no illegal employees.
MD
Doug,
Employers don’t need any help finding illegal employees.
Illegal employees only have illegal employees.
LOL!
And illegal employers are good at finding NEW illegal employees. Just hire your illegal employee’s cousin, brother, uncle, aunt …
You just refuse to join the real world.
MD
John,
“Why do you think employers hire illegal immigrants?”
Business have only one motivation.
Profit.
You know that from your high school economics and business classes.
If not, that was repeated in BUS 1001, ECON 1001, and MAN 2001.
Business acts to maximize profit by illegal hiring practices.
If the penalty for illegal hiring were greater than the profit, the practice would end.
And, if the ‘migratory worker’ is as a group, an unreliable criminal element, why are businesses hiring them and putting their profits and assets at risk?
When the ‘philosophy’ of the right is applied to the business, instead of the individual, the rightist philosophy becomes fascist instantly.
Burn the illegal employer at the stake!
Storm the Board Room!
Death to CEOs!
lol
I find this thread boring.
MD,
Good work in clarifying your post. In reality, I think we agree more than disagree. Most emplyers are not the problems, but unfortunately there is a minority, yet still sizeable number that are.
I want to reward people acting in compliance with the law, that includes emplyers and immigrants. American businesses that break the law and contribute to the problem are doing so to make a buck and compete on an unfair basis with law abiding people. They are the ones that need to pay.
The system for verification that I sugested is to take away any excuse when someone hires an illegal.
In any event, when you write in a way moe like your later post, rather than the former, you sound a lot more reasonable.
Bill,
It was interesting enough for your to read and comment, though.
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article le + ‘ – ‘ + basename(imgurl) + ‘(’ + w + ‘x’ + h +’), but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.