Friday, August 3, 2007

Illegal Immigrants Receiving Slave Wages

The editorial "Slave Wages" published August 1st in the Houston Chronicle highlights the injustice experienced by illegal immigrants. Yes, I agree that there is a problem with illegal immigrants coming to the United States working without visas and in return not paying taxes. But if Congress tightened up and made stricter measures at all borders our labor force would quickly dwindle. Many illegal immigrants seek construction jobs where they can be paid in cash and been contracted to work one day at a time. Unfortunately, there has been a substantial rise in reports for stolen wages. Contractors are simply not paying their workers and taking advantage of their labor. I personally feel as if this is unfair, however; I revaluate my thoughts of unfairness when I consider that they are illegal immigrants living in our nation with out having to pay taxes. Two wrongs don't make a right. Both are at a wrong. I don't feel as if there should be illegal immigrants coming into the United States. The immigrants should realize that this is not their country. However, my mind questions these contractors that are cheating these people who are coming to the United States to seek the "American dream" and then cheated. I know I would not want a contractor building my house who is cheating his employees. I feel as if this is a serious matter to take into account from both perspectives as the illegal immigrant and the cheating contractor. As a Texas citizen this issue comes to my attention as a serious matter that needs to be revaluated by Congress. The current system of border control is obviously not working. In addition, the system to report stolen wages has sky rocketed partially because 75 percent of laborers are not documented citizens and contractors feel as if they can get away with it considering their laborers status. The title of this article explains this situation perfectly, these illegal immigrants are recieving slave wages. I propose a complete revamping of both systems. Even though border control issue has been one of the center issues in Congres for the last 5 years, no successful solutions have been made. As for stealing wages, Contractors should be seriously searched for their wrongdoings. Please read the editorial below so you can decide for yourself whom you believe is in the wrong.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5020347.html.

4 comments:

Kris S. Seago said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kris S. Seago said...

Nice post. I think you're getting close to a very important argument here. If failure to pay taxes is the problem, why not place the burden on employers (who are usually responsible for withholding taxes)? Day labor and payment in cash is a transparent ruse to dodge taxes.

I2amUSA said...

I agree with you, immigrants do get paid a lot less because they are illegal. Illegal immigrants often use false social security numbers and employers even pay immigrants cash and take advantage of them. Although they are illegal, I don’t think it’s fair to take advantage and pay them less for a tough hard days’ work. A new law will require employers to fire employees who fail to provide proper identification and social security numbers. According to the article, Expected crackdown on illegal immigrants in the workforce will cause problems for many sectors, opponents say by Juan Castillo:
A new crackdown on the hiring of illegal immigrants will lead to the loss of 300,000 to 400,000 jobs in Texas in the next year, causing great harm to employers, workers and the economy, Bill Hammond, the head of the state association of businesses said Wednesday.
As a result, this new law will affect both employers and consumers because illegal immigrants make about 6% of Texas’ workforce. This can put an end to the slave wages illegal immigrants receive, but now they will be out of jobs. So this goes back to your point that “illegal immigrants should not be coming into the United States,” you are right. Without jobs, illegal immigrants won’t have incentives to come to the U.S., but the economy will be greatly affected. Until new reforms are taken to help illegal immigrants come legally to the U.S. to work, live, or pursue the “American Dream” this will continue to be a problem for both employers and illegal workers. I say help because illegal immigrants continue to come to the U.S. legally, illegally and with or with no fence and even across the ocean. This new law will not only affect construction employers, but also farmers with illegal immigrants making about 70% of the workforce according to the article. At least this new law will end the poor treatment against illegal immigrants and make U.S. citizens realize the importance of illegal immigrants and their labor to the economy.

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