Wrongful Musings

I have a problem with illegal immigration. The problem is not the people trying to improve their lives by moving to America. The problem is the businessmen that are hiring these workers illegally and undermining the integrity of the American worker. The business owners that are hiring Mexican workers claim that they are being hired because American workers are unwilling to do the work. They are correct, but not because Americans think they are somehow above the work offered, but because the pay is too low to support a reasonable standard of living.

Imagine if instead of talking about building a wall to keep Mexicans out of our country, our politicians hold the business owners accountable for hiring illegal workers. If stiff penalties and fines were levied for hiring illegal workers, then business owners would quit hiring Mexican workers, and there would be no reason for Mexicans to venture north. But wait, we've created a problem. There's no one to pick up our trash in the park, serve us fast food, pick our produce, fix our roads, and clean our toilets. Where are the Mexicans? How will we survive?

The key to solving the problem is to raise the wage that potential employees can make. Instead of offering a farm laborer 7 bucks an hour, make it 9. Instead of offering Taco Bell employees minimum wage, offer them enough money to take a vacation once a year, or help pay for a child to go to college. This would be possible if there weren't so many willing Mexicans to work for very small wages. Without the Mexicans, business owners would be forced to take money out of their high profits and give it back to the employees that are actually doing the work. Maybe a middle class could once again re-emerge.

# posted by Travis @ 11:35 PM