in collaboration with Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity

Punish companies who hire illegal immigrants

File under: jobs, government

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From: Ron W., Cary, NC

Illegal immigration is driving down wages for low-skilled Americans due to the fact that the vast majority of illegal immigrants compete for jobs with poorly educated Americans. Many companies exploit illegal immigrants and likewise, low-skilled Americans, by pitting them against one another for jobs. If all companies in America were required to use the federal government's online E-Verify System, and we punished those companies who continue to hire illegal workers, most low-skilled Americans could earn at least a living wage.

I'm all for increasing the minimum wage, but if we don't pay attention to the increase of worker supply through immigration, we will still have high unemployment among the ranks of low-skilled citizens. And we now have those who wish to give amnesty to illegal immigrants while 15 million Americans are out of work. Americans will do just about any work, so there aren't jobs Americans don't want to do. There are jobs Americans don't want to do for $6.00 an hour because they can't live on those wages.

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