I see all these illegals stuffed into landscaping and construction trucks, why aren't the people that hire them arrested, fined, and shut down. These companies that hire illegals are commiting treason (it used to be a crime...) against the country and breaking numerous tax and safety laws.
But the politicos are paid off by big business to keep the heat off the illegals and their employers, so not much gets done.
I'm not sure big business has to pay the politicos a dime to keep the heat off. I think there are at least two quite plausible reasons why "not much gets done" with respect to the enforcement of immigration laws:
First, never underestimate the simple but brutal power of sheer incompetence (source:
http://third-way.com/data/product/file/38/Immigration_Enforcement_Report.pdf):
- a grand total of 46 employer convictions were obtained in FY 2004, in the entire USA
- total arrests of illegal immigrants in the USA averaged 1.68M annually between 1996 and 2000; between 2001 and 2004, that average annual number dropped to 1.18M. (And bear in mind that this is _after_ a post 9/11 massive _increase_ in the number of border patrol agents).
- the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is Julie Myers, a lawyer with no background in immigration enforcement. Quote from a union president representing ICE agents, officers, and support staff: "It appears she's got a tremendous amount of experience in money laundering, in
banking and the financial areas. My question is: Who the hell is going to enforce the immigration laws?"
Second, even if we had our "A Team" on the case, the problem would be a daunting one. The numbers are simply massive: 11 million illegal immigrants. Last fall, I heard a highly competent Republican prosecutor speak about immigration enforcement. His main point: the scope of the problem completely dwarfs the resources in the law enforcement system available to address the problem. For example, even if you knew where all 11 million illegal immigrants were, and had air-tight cases against every one of them, how could you possibly process them through our judicial system?
While this issue seems to generate plenty of heated political rhetoric, this has not yet translated into the political will to take a hard look at the practicalities of the problem and try to address them; the way things are right now, rhetoric, not action, wins elections, and as long as that remains true, we can expect lots more talk -- but focused, practical action? Not so much.
Dave
