So, you oppose any immigration reform that includes “amnesty”?
Could you be more specific? If we define amnesty as forgiveness, are you opposed to forgiving 12 million illegal immigrants or the employers who hired them?
We ask because things are so nutty in Washington these days that it's possible to be against one but not the other.
That's right. Some of the same lawmakers who take a hard line against what they see as amnesty for illegal immigrants tend to go soft on employers who hire them. This isn't new. Yet the practice of turning a blind eye to employers is, as of late, taking some interesting new twists.
Up to now, this bizarre double standard – hard on workers, soft on employers – has shown up only in terms of punishment; unlike building walls or deploying armies, penalizing employers isn't an idea that has caught fire in Congress or at the White House.
There was some encouraging movement on that front this week when the Senate voted to require employers to check the Social Security numbers of new hires against a computerized verification system and fine employers who hire illegal immigrants up to $20,000 for each worker.
But that's about getting tough on future employers, not current ones. The legislation being debated in the Senate assures us that employers “of aliens applying for adjustment of status...shall not be subject to civil and criminal tax liability relating directly to the employment of such alien.”
That's what we call amnesty. Unlike the hoops that undocumented immigrants have to jump through to legalize their status – paying fines and back taxes, learning English, registering with the government – employers get a pass. Maybe senators think current employers haven't really committed a crime, or maybe they believe many employers don't know whom they're hiring, because of the prevalence of fake documents. For whatever reason, even the hardest of hard-liners seem eager to let current employers off the hook even as they're forcing their workers to make restitution.
Under the Senate plan, current employers don't have to do much of anything. Their absolution comes en masse. They aren't held responsible, and they pay no penalty. They admit no wrongdoing.
This exercise proves what we have often said about how the phenomenon of illegal immigration starts on this side of the border with employers looking to cut costs and increase profits. It also makes clear that Americans and their representatives in Washington share the blame for not holding employers accountable – and for excusing misbehavior.
You would think this form of amnesty would have the citizenry up in arms, but what is of greater concern to many Americans is the possibility that illegal immigrants will be dealt with leniently despite the fact that they committed a crime by entering the country without the proper documents.
Rest assured. That won't happen. Under the Senate legislation, there won't be any leniency for those illegal immigrants who are already here. There is none left. It all went to the people who employ them.
