The Illegal Alien Myth

December 29, 2004

It looks like President Bush is pushing forward with his plan to allow millions of illegal aliens to stay and work in the United States without fear of deportation, like they ever feared that before. Every time I talk about illegal immigration, I get the same old line from those who prefer to turn a blind eye to the problem. Illegal aliens, they maintain, take the jobs ordinary Americans won't take. They point, primarily, to the construction and fast food industries. Indeed, it's quite difficult to find a job site or fast food restaurant without a healthy share of illegals toiling away. President Bush perpetuated this myth at a recent press conference. “We ought to have a system that recognizes people are coming here to do jobs that Americans will not do,” he said. “And there ought to be a legal way for them to do so.” However, this whole notion that they're taking the jobs nobody else will take is just a lame excuse from the president and employers hooked on cheap labor.

 

The problem isn't that nobody wants the work. The problem is the wages that are paid. It's basic economics. Let me ask you. At what price would you pick up a hammer and head for the construction site? Forty bucks an hour? Twenty? We're currently in the midst of a construction project on a piece of property we own and the price of labor varies based on work expertise and experience. Some are making $15 per hour, some $18, some even more. Not one illegal alien is working on our job site. Not one. How is it my contractor can find American citizens to work and others can't? Because others don't want to pay the extra money it takes to hire Americans. Sure, it's costing me a little more but I sleep well at night knowing that I don't have a hand in breaking the law and feeding an ever-increasing problem in our society.

 

Look, I'm all for the free market deciding the price of labor. However, illegal aliens short-circuit the free market system. When you have workers who will live in over-crowded squalor just for the chance to be in this country, you're not talking about a free market. Illegal immigration contaminates the equation. I've talked to many subcontractors who tell me colleagues have been forced out of the business because illegals undercut them. These same people who complain and moan about jobs going to Mexico or overseas will then turn around and hire illegal labor, putting Americans out of work in the process.

 

So what do we do about the problem? We must “demagnetize” our states and our country. Programs like TennCare in Tennessee and various driver's license programs for illegal aliens act as magnets for illegal aliens. But that's only part of the problem. The jobs are the primary magnets. We must crack down on employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. The threat of mandatory jail time for offenders would dry up the demand in a hurry. No longer able to find employment or get on the government dole, illegals would head back home.

 

But the price of goods and services will go up, the naysayers cry. They might. Probably not as much as advocates of the status quo would have you think. Nobody's going to pay six bucks for a Big Mac. McDonald's may see its profit margin trimmed a bit but as long as people are lining up to buy burgers, they'll be fine. Look on the bright side. Maybe they'll be able to get your order right for a change.