As reported by the Associated Press,
“The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit seeking to
undo California laws that extend protections for immigrants living in the
United States illegally.
“The lawsuit was filed late Tuesday in Sacramento. It says
three state laws intentionally undermine federal immigration law. Among other
things, the legislation bars police from asking people about their immigration
status or participating in federal immigration enforcement activities. Another
law offers protection against workplace raids.
“The Justice Department says those laws hinder immigration
authorities and are unconstitutional.” [1]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions |
Now Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution
tells us that the “Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall
be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made,
under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land;
and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the
Constitution or Laws of any state to the Contrary notwithstanding.” [2]
This means that, while the federal government may not compel
state authorities to assist with the enforcement of federal immigration law, a
state may not positively obstruct such enforcement. So it is to be expected
that the parts of California law that “bars police from asking people about
their immigration status or participating in federal immigration enforcement
activities” will be upheld, the state legislation that “offers protection
against workplace raids” will probably be stricken, provided that the manner of
the raids are otherwise constitutional.
But none of this is serious.
The reason why most people would enter the United States
illegally is to find work, notwithstanding the false claims that they come here
to live on welfare (unauthorized “immigrants are ineligible for most major
federally-funded safety net programs” [3]).
To accomplish that, they need employers.
Given that illegal immigration is considered to be such a
high level national crisis by many of our political class, one would expect
serious penalties to be imposed on those who deliberately hire undocumented
employees. But the penalty is only six months in jail (the penalty for being
drunk in public in California) and up to $10,000.00 in fines; and that is only
for the third offense. [4]
[5] For the first
and second offense only civil fines are imposed.
With all of the rhetoric surrounding this issue it is
surprising that purposely hiring an illegal alien doesn’t carry serious prison
time. But serious prison time is for serious crimes, and Congress doesn’t think
that hiring undocumented workers is really that serious.
That’s because illegal immigrants represent cheap labor. For
businesses that can’t easily relocate, it’s like moving their facilities to a
country where their labor costs will be drastically lower. Instead of moving
the business, they can bring the cheap labor into the United States. In fact,
since undocumented workers can’t access government agencies for protection for
fear of deportation, businesses can decide at the end of the week not to pay
them at all. The cost advantages are obvious.
It is plain what the impact of such activity has on the
American labor market, so politicians are hardly going to admit that they like
the idea of importing cheap labor. So they provide minimal penalties for those
who hire undocumented workers, if they get caught, and focus on deporting the
workers, a much more elaborate process.
And don’t be fooled by the border wall nonsense. That
expensive solution has an obvious countermeasure: tunnels. [6]
If Congress was serious about keeping out undocumented
workers, it would impose penalties on employers who hire them which were sufficient
to deter the practice. But our politicians really aren’t serious about it.
Their words and actions against illegal immigration are all political theater,
inflicting hardships on those least able to fight back, while providing a way
for some businesses to be unconscionable employers.