A New Wrinkle in Immigration Reform

By Janet Parshall
Beyond the News

There's a new wrinkle in the debate swirling around immigration reform. The Associated Press is reporting that U.S. employers, wanting cheap labor, are looking to illegal aliens to recruit family and friends back home. Smugglers then bring the illegals into the country.

Stories of underground employment networks are springing up in states like Wisconsin, Michigan and South Dakota. News of jobs, paying low wages, is passed by word of mouth, and the smugglers are making a killing. One smuggler earned $900,000 over 15 months by placing 6,000 immigrants in jobs. So how to fix the problem?

Laws already exist that fine employers for hiring illegals but they're rarely enforced. Proposals calling for increased fines are useless if the existing laws aren't applied. Employers say that they can't always spot fake documents and are fearful of litigation based on discrimination.

In the complex problem of reforming immigration, the government has to enforce existing law--but business also has to be held accountable.