Immigration Reform - Why We Don't Need Any

All the talk about immigration reform makes me angry. Why do we need a reform?

By the way: "reform" means "improvement" and a change to the current system may not necessarily be an improvement, especially if it includes an amnesty as its main feature.

I would call it "Immigration change". So why do we need to change the current system?

One answer: we have millions of illegal intruders in this country. They interfere with our economy both by consuming resources and taking jobs away from people who are here legally. They are also dangerous: we have no idea who is coming over our borders (both North and South) - these may be peaceful job seekers or criminals.

Most of the illegals are here to earn money. To deter them from coming over the border we don't need new laws, we only need to enforce existing ones and, possibly, make punishment for not following the rules more severe.

I'm not talking about punishing the illegal immigrants. I'm proposing to focus on the people who employ them.

It is my belief that a person or a company that gets caught employing someone here illegally should be punished severely. The employment will stop if fines are equal to a 100 times the yearly wages paid for the job the illegal was hired to do and maybe criminal prosecution. With no jobs available the illegals will go home. This was proven when the current recession started. Many couldn't find jobs and returned to wherever they came from.

It is true that probably not all of them will go away. Some will stay because they get medical treatment they can't get in their country of origin, because their kids get a better education here or for whatever other reason. Those who chose to stay will have to support themselves either by committing crimes or being supported by somebody. As things happen, serious criminals are usually caught, especially if they don't have a large illegal immigrant community to hide in. These communities are notorious for not cooperating with police. It may take a while but the criminals will end up in jail with their families deported. The ones supported by friends and family will be few and won't really bother us.

When the massive flow of people sneaking across the border diminishes, it will be much easier to catch those who still insist on crossing illegally. It can than also be assumed that they are either criminals or terrorists and can be dealt with accordingly.

The question may be asked how can a small business owner, or a big company, know that they are about to hire an illegal. It wouldn't be fair to punish them severely for not knowing. Some of the illegals carry convincing fake driver's licenses and Social Security cards.

The answer is simple: an employer can go to http://www.ssa.gov/bso/bsowelcome.htm, register and check whether a person they want to employ is legally in this country. You just type in their Social Security number into the system and it will tell you whether it's legitimate and to whom it belongs. If name and number don't match, or the number doesn't exist the person is illegal. Same is true if the number comes up belonging to a dead person.

Arizona should have passed a law imposing severe penalties on employers of illegals. The law they passed will cause a lot of conflict and will, in the end, not solve anything. As long as jobs are available people will come and hope to escape law enforcement. Only removing the incentive will diminish illegal immigration.

It would be wise for the states to pass such laws, as Congress seems to like passing bills that are at least a thousand pages long and have all kinds of nasty surprises hidden in them.