toadie800's Blog

Federal authorities should throw the book at those who hire illegal immigrants.

WHEN JOB markets look grim, hiring illegal immigrants is especially egregious.

That's why the federal government should throw the book at restaurant owners Guo Hua Jiang and Jian Chun Liu if the latest charges against them prove true.

The two are accused of employing 10 illegal aliens for the past eight and a half months, as well as harboring them at the couple's two residences in Rincon.

There appears to be little doubt among immigration authorities that the two knew the undocumented workers were in the country illegally (officials would not identify the workers' nationalities).

According to the indictment against the two, the motive was simple greed: By hiring illegal workers, the restaurant owners were able to skip out on paying employee taxes such as Social Security, unemployment insurance, employee benefits, and worker's compensation, investigators say.

Such actions not only rob U.S. citizens and those with valid work visas of employment opportunities, the existence of a low-wage black market labor force puts downward pressure on the pay and benefits offered legitimate workers.

These illegal actions also make for an unfair playing field with the owners of restaurants or other businesses who scrupulously follow labor hiring laws.

Combined with the billions of dollars worth of remittances illegal workers send back to their home countries each year, the costs of such under-the-counter dealings to the American economy are substantial.

The head of investigations at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Atlanta field office, Kenneth Smith, said other businesses should view the Rincon arrests as a warning call that "ICE aggressively targets employers who knowingly employ an illegal alien work force."

Such measures are a welcome sign that federal officials may be stepping up efforts to enforce existing immigration laws in a way that will truly discourage the hire of undocumented workers.

Only when the cost of shady business practices exceeds the perceived benefits of a cheap, vulnerable work force will unscrupulous business owners keep their avarice in check.

There appears to be little doubt among immigration authorities that the two knew the undocumented workers were in the country illegally.