Enforcement, Employment, and Immigration
Molly McCarroll
Author: Molly McCarroll
Source: The Family Security Foundation, Inc.
Date: April 27, 2006
One of the essential tools for solving the illegal immigration crisis in America is targeting those employers who knowingly hire such workers simply for the financial benefit. Despite getting off to a rocky start as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Julie Myers has made strides in cracking down on both undocumented workers and their employers. But will she and the rest of the government have the courage to continue if it means presenting the American public with economic disruptions?
April 27, 2006
Enforcement, Employment, and Immigration
When Julie Myers was nominated to be the new Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Congress said she wasn’t qualified. She only barely met the statutory requirements of experience necessary for the position and there was a chorus of skepticism about whether she would be able to lead an organization so essential to national security. The immigration debate may not have been as heated a few months ago as it is now, but it was still an issue of obvious political magnitude and Myers was simply not a figure that inspired confidence in Congress or in the nation.
But now Ms. Myers is eager to prove she is a capable and successful leader, who is making strides to impact the immigration crisis that is looming over the country. To that end, she touted ICE’s accomplishments in an opinion piece in USA Today on Wednesday. Her agency is currently working on the implementation of a new Interior Enforcement Strategy aimed at cracking down on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Arrests of undocumented workers have plummeted since the late 1990’s, from 17,554 in 1997 to 445 in 2003. By increasing the frequency and severity of punishment for employers, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are hoping to offset the financial incentive of hiring workers outside the legal tax and benefit systems. ICE and DHS have clearly realized that one of the most important ways to curtail illegal immigration is to eliminate the reward of a stable, profitable job. Reducing the financial incentive is understood to be an essential key to reducing illegal immigration.
As a first step in this plan, ICE has arrested 10 individuals in two separate cases this month for their roles in knowingly employing illegal aliens. Myers’ enthusiasm and energy on this front are commendable. She is correct in noting that undocumented immigrants are not the only ones committing a crime. Employers who know and ignore the illegal status of their workers are equally responsible for the decline in support for American laws and the precipitous decline in arrests of both workers and employers over recent years is nothing short of deplorable.
Employment enforcement is not a popular solution for many Americans. It is easy to support a crackdown on illegal workers and those who hire them when such enforcement involves someone else. But when it takes away a family maid, the low-cost landscapers, or an entire construction crew, people start to get upset. Reducing the role of illegal workers in the American economy can be extremely disruptive and it is unclear whether Americans will be more outraged by the continual lawbreaking of certain segments of society or by a sudden spike in consumer prices and drop in product availability. One reason that arrests slowed down in the 1990’s was the public reaction to economic disruptions in Nebraska, the first target of law enforcement. Opponents of border security and immigration restrictions point to this disruption as proof that future enforcement activities will not enjoy public support and will ultimately prove unsuccessful. The public may say they want enforcement, they argue, but a hard dose of reality will quickly change their minds.
The enforcement opponents may be right. Faced with a sudden spike in the cost of everything from produce to pet care, the American people and, more importantly, their government, may prove too squeamish to continue. But the advocates of this position likely underestimate the anger of the country on the issue of illegal immigration. People may disagree about the best solution to the current problem, but almost everyone agrees that something must be done and it is this determination that can support conclusive and effective reform. Julie Myers has not yet turned ICE around and she still faces an uphill battle not only to do her job well but to prove herself to the country, but she has made a promising start in her willingness to tackle a tough and emotional issue.
Molly McCarroll is the Editorial Director of FamilySecurityMatters.org and an M.A. graduate of the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC.
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