Letter: Why immigration reform won’t work
When you give people the opportunity to legally work they will demand that they be paid at least the minimum wage, as they should be paid.
The businesses that hire undocumented labor — because they can pay them less than the legal wage — will once again reach out to undocumented workers they can hire, for less than the legal wage, and yell loud enough for people to believe them.
The excuse is, and always has been, that American workers won’t do the jobs. Then what happened to all of the people who can legally work in this country after reforms?
The American dream is what brings people to our country, then we try to destroy that dream by paying poverty-level wages. Shame on the people who hide under the excuse of not being able to pay legal wages because they might go broke.
The only way immigration reform can work is to make the penalty stiff enough that it is a disadvantage to hire undocumented workers. The penalty needs to be jail time. It is proven fines don't work, they just yell louder.
Myron Bishop
Kennewick
This story was originally published September 1, 2015 at 1:15 PM with the headline "Letter: Why immigration reform won’t work."