In December 2007 a federal judge in Oklahoma threw out a lawsuit against a statewide law that forbids hiring illegal immigrants. According to the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, the local businesses now have to deal with the fallout on the economy. It estimates that 20% of the city’s construction labor force – about 2,000 workers – left the city in the four months since December 2007. More than 70 businesses closed in the first two months of 2008 because many of their employees left the state.
When the government gets cracking on illegal immigrants, the main opponents of the government action are the human right activists and other immigrant rights associations. Local law enforcement authorities generally crack down on illegal immigrants in their jurisdiction and the businesses that employ them. Business caught hiring undocumented workers generally have their licenses revoked. Now businesses have started resisting the government attempts to crack down on illegal immigrants.
Businesses and the government have benefited handsomely from the present flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S., but they refuse to reimburse local and state authorities and taxpayers for the related costs. Undocumented workers illegally hired by U.S. businesses contribute more than $8 billion to Social Security and $2 billion to Medicare. All Social Security Administration projections and budgets include, and rely heavily on, the billions in annual contributions from undocumented immigrant workers. Social Security would have a significant solvency problem without this revenue.
There is now fierce political pressure from business lobbies, immigrant rights groups, and members of Congress. This has resulted in a steady retreat by the government from workplace enforcement in the 20 years since it became illegal to hire undocumented workers in this country.
Arizona has some of the nation’s most rabidly anti-immigrant politicians and enacted some stringent employer punishments last year. But a business group has succeeded in gathering signatures for a ballot initiative that could soften some of the stringent punishments.
Riverside, New Jersey, is a perfect example of how the crackdown on illegal immigrants has adversely affected local businesses. In July 2006, the Riverside Township Committee unanimously passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act, which made hiring or renting property to an illegal immigrant punishable by a $2,000 fine and jail time. Since then, town officials estimate, as many as 2,500 immigrants, or nearly one-third of Riverside’s population, have fled. Downtown merchants and restaurateurs report declines in revenue of as much as 70%. The ordinance was never actually enforced. It was almost immediately tied up in court after 62 Riverside business and property owners filed a lawsuit claiming that the Illegal Immigration Relief Act was unconstitutional and improperly superseded federal authority.
Without the cheap labor of the illegal immigrants, the local economy in many towns and cities would virtually collapse. The irony is that while the nation requires the immigrant’s cheap labor, the nation does not want the immigrant.
Related posts:
Blogs RSS feeds [
I would like to know where you are getting your facts? According to the data that I have seen there is no way that $8 billion and $2 billion go to Social Security and Medicare.
And I work in Riverside and our business and those around us are doing ok. Riverside looks at the Immigration Relef Act as one of the most positive things our town has ever done. Please share your sources – you owe it to your readers if you truly want to educate them.
Thanks.
I had to read this article twice to confirm that it was a bunch of crap!
“Undocumented workers illegally hired by U.S. businesses contribute more than $8 billion to Social Security and $2 billion to Medicare.”
If the ILLEGAL ALIENS were not contributing to the Social Security, who would? An American, of course!
Who pays for all the ANCHOR BABIES born here? The Americans, of course. Who schools these ANCHORS? Americans, of course. Who pays for all the medical costs of the ANCHOR BABIES and ILLEGAL parents (parent)? American taxpayers, of course. Who pays for all the deportations of these ILLEGAL ALIENS? The American taxpayer, of course.
Who pays for all the crime and jailing of these ILLEGAL ALIENS? Again, the American taxpayer.
Does the un-American businesses that hire these ILLEGAL ALIENS pay any of the above?
I’m for all 50 States passing a law to get rid of the ILLEGAL ALIENS. THEY DON’T BELONG HERE!
Get them back to their own country where they bolong!
It truly amazes me that the left wing rights activist a-holes try to fight all that is right in this country… pass a law to fight illegal immigration… FIGHT IT. According to them, we should let anyone and everyone into this country, and let them drain a community’s resources without paying into taxes and the budget just because “they have a right to be here’! What a crock! Let’s face it, we are all here in this counrtry (except for native americans) by fact of immigration. There is nothing wrong with that but DO IT RIGHT! Become legal, pay your damn taxes and be like all the other Americans who work here. Its not asking much. And to those employers who hire illegals for $25 a day SHAME ON YOU. You’re time is coming and you will pay for what you’re doing. Stop ruining this economy and do the right thing.
The negative impact it had on local economy forced the town of Riverside to repeal the ordinance. Doug Bell, the owner of a discount store and Celeste Martiniano Martinez, the onwer of Pavilion Barbecue will surely agree that the ordinance had a negative impact on the economy.
The contributions of the undocumented workers to the economy is an open secret. http://usliberals.about.com/od/immigration/a/IllegalImmi.htm
Illegal immigratns will continue to come to this country as long as this country need their cheap labor. Attack the root of the problem – it’s not the immigrant but the lack of cheap labor.