IMMIGRATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Several new studies examine the actions of employers who take advantage of undocumented workers for purposes of squeezing extra dollars for themselves. What is made clear in these studies is that both immigrant families and our society as a whole are negatively impacted by our broken immigration system. Two studies in particular, one by the National Employment Law Center (NELP) (http://nelp.3cdn.net/59719b5a36109ab7d8_5xm6bc9ap.pdf) and the other by the Cato Institute (http://www.freetrade.org/node/949) examine this issue.

The NELP study establishes conclusively that undocumented workers in this country are often paid less than the minimum wage, are rarely paid for overtime, and endure conditions that are unhealthy and dehumanizing. In some respects, the situation in which immigrant workers find themselves resembles slave labor. In addition, when the wage bar is set lower than U.S. labor laws allow, honest employers who do not hire undocumented workers are forced to drive down wages for all employees in order to stay competitive.

In Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York taken together more than $56.4 million dollars are lost in any given week due to employment and labor law violations. If immigrant workers were paid an honest wage these wages would become taxable and reduce the tax burden on the rest of us. Sales tax revenues would be boosted if immigrant workers were paid an honest wage.

In the second study by the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, researchers calculated that establishing a visa tax would raise $180 billion new dollars annually. The Cato study also finds that when compared with a strict immigration/deportation policy, a Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that allows for a guest-worker program would yield a $260 billion dollar benefit to American households.

In summary, because undocumented workers from other countries receive far less than their worth for work being done, the wages of our society as a whole suffer. Systemic violation of U.S. Labor standards by unscrupulous employers causes us all to suffer. Conversely, regularizing the status of immigrant workers will pay dividends for all.

Far from being the economic drain that adversaries of immigration reform claim, Comprehensive Immigration Reform in fact will redress moral wrongs while promoting national economic well being.