What about the employers?

The lead comment in the 4/10 issue of the New Yorker is entitled “Alien Nation” (presumably not a tribute to Brimelow), and it notes the “stunning” and organic nature of the pro-immigrant rallies that have taken place around the country. John Cassidy states that if it “weren’t an election year, the making of a sensible [immigration bill] compromise would be obvious.”

His solution? “Hire more border guards, both to enhance security and to put some limits on the influx of cheap labor. Relax restrictions on educated foreign workers whose enterprise we need . . . . And finally, do right by resident illegals – many of them with American children, many of them already paying U.S. taxes.” Interestingly, his 3-prong strategy (which has a lot to recommend it) says nothing about the enforcement or enhancement of employer sanctions. And in this, he is not alone, as I’ve noted in previous posts.

Cassidy’s proposal suggests that adding “more border guards” will prevent people from entering the country and working without authorization. But people in difficult situations will find a way to enter and work, so long as the jobs are available. And the jobs will be available so long as it benefits employers to pay below-market wages to unauthorized workers.

Perhaps Mr. Cassidy doesn’t want to propose that DHS enforcement agents ought to march into the homes and gardens of New Yorker readers everywhere to start enforcing immigration laws against illegal employers. But if he (and others) are serious about “put[ting] some limits on the influx of cheap labor,” then they ought to focus on who employs that labor.

Our laws are already extremely tough on migrants. Any increase in sanctions for migrants will have little marginal utility. In contrast, we are not at all tough on employers. Perhaps this is because, at the end of the day, it’s much easier to talk tough about noncitizens than to hold citizens accountable for their violations of certain laws. Before a country starts penalizing substantial numbers of its citizens for immigration law violations, that country actually has to believe in the need for and economic viability of its restrictive immigration laws.

-jmc