Illegal Immigration: The Painless Cure

In the past few years we have heard the muted roar of disapproval rising to new heights over the subject of Illegal Aliens living and working in our country. While this started out as a labor issue about cheaper labor undermining the ability of the Unions to hold employers to higher and higher labor costs, it is now a security issue about terrorist sneaking into our country to kill us. The result though is still the same. The people moan about it, the Politicians make laws about it, and the Illegal Aliens just keep on walking in. Is there no way to safely, and humanely stop this flood of people? If there is we must find it. It is hard to find a terror cell among millions of undocumented workers, and illegal Border crossers.

The Irish arrived in large numbers when the Potato crop failed in Ireland; we processed them on Liberty Island and released them to make their dreams come true. Then in the 60's the anti-Castro Cubans arrived by Air and by Boat, we processed them and gave them a short stipend to get started and they merged into the American way of life. The Vietnamese boat people's arrived in the 70's, and we took them to Arkansas and processed them, and sent them on their way. In each case these new immigrants came to this country to start a new life. They were here to become Americans. Now however we have a different type of immigrant. Today millions of men, women, and children cross our borders in the dark of night, and the light of day. They come for many reasons. Some come to live the American dream. They want to find new lives without oppression, and without fear. Others however come to make as much money as possible and then to return to their homes with the cash and live our dream in their own country. I salute both of these groups for their bravery in walking across at least one desert, braving blazing temperatures in the 100's, drug runners, the infamous Federalies (Mexican Government Troops), and local border criminals on both sides. However, they are here as Criminals. They are not here as house guests but as brazen,house breakers.

It is the other groups I am more concerned about though. There are many other Foreigners who came here on a Tourist Visa's and never went home, and never applied to become an Immigrant. There are others who arrive here to work for Foreign Governments, or Foreign Companies, and never went home either. If you get up near the Northern US border you find many Canadians living and working here. There is rarely a night in Florida that a boat load of Haitians, Jamaicans, Cubans, and others from the Caribbean area , doesn't pull in close to shore so their cargo can swim ashore. That is because the law states if they swim ashore and get to dry land they can't be sent back. Perhaps some of them may even be from countries like Somalia (remember Black Hawk down), or Nigeria, or the Sudan (how many of the 911 Hijackers were from there?). There have also been reports recently of active Hamas groups living in the US. If the truth be known we probably don't actually know who is here illegally.

This means that we can't send anyone back. We are if fact so scared that someone (probably the ACLU) will accuse us of profiling that our police can't even ask the people they stop if they are here legally. It would do no good if they did. In most states and provinces they couldn't arrest them if they confessed.

We have all noticed the increase of Hispanic looking individuals on the road repair teams for years and it didn't seem a big deal. We assumed that they were nice folks trying to get by. We never looked on them as criminals. We all know a Pablo or Maria in our lives. They work hard, and keep quietly to themselves. They cut Mr. Greene's grass and wash the Henderson's car. Then one day there was a Hispanic protest out in LA on the TV where we saw the rest of these folks. They were not at all nice.

We have all spoken to the polite Middle Eastern clerks and store owners, and never considered them a threat until we watched the documentaries on TV about American Islamic Jihadist training in Afghanistan for the coming war. Now they all look strange to us.

Where do we go from here? The fact is that it is physically impossible, and criminal, to go through this land of laws and round up all these people and carry them to the Airport or border and send them home. It would take more busses than we own to just move the southern border violators back to their side of the border. Then there also is the problem that just because they look Hispanic doesn't mean they're Mexicans

How do we correct this problem? There is only one agency in America that has the info, the power, and the desire to cure the problem. The Internal Revenue Service. They know who is here and paying taxes. They receive Tax withholding and social security withholding from the employers. They then receive a Tax return, with an address to send back the refund to. They also have the only means to ensure the employers pay these taxes. While an employer may be late on the company tax return, it is financial suicide to miss the withholding tax payment.

I would hazard a bet that if on any Monday morning at 09:00 AM a task force of about 100 marshals, IRS agents, and ICE agents were to surround a Lettuce field in Southern California and prevent anyone from leaving it would sound the end of employers winking at the law. They would only have to line up the pickers and check ID's. Those with out any ID's go into group A. The ones with ID's into Group B. The ones who have American accents and ID's go into group C. Then ask each member of group A how they get paid. They would probably point out one of the members in Group C as the paymaster. Next you ask that paymaster where his records of payments and list of W9's are for each worker. He will probably let you know in a second that he works for Employer A, who owns the Lettuce field and that he is just a Forman.

This leaves employer A owing a hefty fine and a lot of back taxes on his past payments to non-papered employees and/or sub-contractors. This is not to mention the States share of income taxes and workman's compensation payments. This will also mean that he probably won't be hiring anymore Illegal workers in the future. That is if he is financially able to continue farming. Then we leave the illegal workers to go their way, after we photograph, and finger print them and give them a form to take to the border patrol to apply for a work visa. The workers in Group B we run ID verification, and if they are using stolen or manufactured ID's we lock them up until they spill where they got them. Then we release them with out their ID's as in Group A. The workers in Group C we check their Income tax records to see if they are filing or wanted somewhere and then proceed with the law. This plan should stop most illegal workers from sneaking into our country in about two years. I also bet that if they hit about three farms a week they could collect more than enough back taxes and fines to open new offices and do more inspections and raids. I also bet in 5 weeks it will be hard to find an illegal worker in the area. They would move back home and wait for their Visas. This will reduce the forrest of Illegals and make identification of the rest a little easier.

If we let the IRS begin to spot check businesses for employer compliance we would quickly see repeats of the recent raids in Michigan, and here in North Carolina. If the IRS were to send out compliance teams every time they notice someone who is paying withholding taxes in Nebraska is also drawing Social Security benefits in Florida we would start putting the Stolen ID makers out of business, and into Jail. We would also find that once the employer's fines and penalties, and interest started to exceed their savings from using illegal labor they will send them packing. Once the jobs start to run out the Illegal aliens that are here for that stack of money will go home. The others will go to a local border crossing and sign up for a work permit or green card. The terrorist will have less to hide among. There are only so many yards to mow in America.