Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Obama’s New Immigration Policy: Punish United States Citizen Employers

President Obama promised to “change” our immigration policies, but what he didn’t tell us was that the change he was going to deliver was change for the worse.

The President’s new immigration policy is to punish United States citizen employers. You read that right. His immigration change includes placing a heavier burden on employers by increasing investigations of hiring records and issuing fines for violations.

Isn't that just what the taxpayer struggling to stay in business needs right now: more fines. Now that is change we can believe in.

The administration has justified this "change" by stating "We have to come to grips with the market for illegal labor," "To get there, we have to move beyond individual cases." - John Morton, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in DHS.

Now I'm not saying that employers should willfully and knowingly hire individuals who are in this country illegally, but the reality is that in these tough economic times a United States Citizen employer needs the means to hire willing workers legally, and our broken immigration system precludes that option.

Moreover, a small business owner should not be put in the position of having to fire an individual who their business may depend on to remain viable, or face the possibility of stiff fines. Talk about kicking you when you're down.

Here is a little suggestion for you Mr. President: why don't you attempt to work with Congress to create a system where employers can legally hire the individuals that are already inside the country who actually want to work, and that incidentally, many small businesses are dependent on.

I am willing to wager a guess that the 67% of Hispanics who voted for the President expected more. I know I did.

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