Termination of Illegal Immigrants With the reputation as a national melting pot, America is known for its vast diversity in several aspects: ethnic, religious, and lingual diversity. Since America’s independence, millions of people have immigrated to this country seeking a better opportunity: education, freedom, quality of life and work. The Department of Homeland Security reports that in 2011 there were a total of 1,062,040 new legal permanent residents in the United States (Monger and Yankay). Whereas there are more than ten times that amount of illegal immigrants living in the US, estimated to be 11.5 million … with 35,000 illegal immigrants residing in Washington, D.C (Hoefer, Rytina, and Baker: Dane). Noel Merino defines ‘Illegal Immigrants’ as people who enter the United States unlawfully, or may be admitted on a temporary basis and stay past the date they are required to leave (14). Since America is a land of dreams and opportunity, thousands of people have taken the risk to come here and work without legal documentation which has led to various social problems. Illegal workers taking jobs from legal immigrants, the state and federal government losing tax revenue, unfair use of social benefits, fraudulent documents are counterfeited, and countless employers taking advantage of undocumented employees are all problems caused by illegal immigrants and could be fixed by lawful deportation back to their homeland. The main reason individuals enter the United States unlawfully is to seek employment to support themselves and/or their family. While Americans are lawfully eligible to work in the US and legal immigrants/residents have to work hard to prepare their government application to get employment authorization, illegal workers obtain jobs unlawfully. For a legal immigrant to get employment authorization or a work permit, it usually takes approximately three-six months, and a $380 fee. Employment authorization requires completing several steps such as filing the paper documents, paying the fee, getting a fingerprint scan, and conducting an interview to complete the process before receiving approval from the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS). Illegal workers on the other hand do not go through all these steps, but rather unfairly take shortcuts to get a job. This circumvention of the law causes unemployment for Americans and legal residents who are eligible to work in the US legally. “The Department of Labor’s June [2010] jobs report…concluded that there were a total of 17.2 million Americans without jobs…and 62.5 percent of illegal immigrants were adults which they likely are, that equates to 14.4 million adult aliens,” (Confer 83). According to figure, the U.S. unemployment rate could be lowered to 2.8 million if labor and immigration laws were enforced to deprive people from acquiring jobs illegally. Whereas employed Americans and legal immigrants work and pay taxes to the state and federal government in order to improve the well-being of the community, most illegal workers do not. Moreover, illegal workers who do claim taxes do so with fraudulent documents. Reports of illegal claimants filling excessive tax refunds have been discovered. On July 7, 2011, the U.S. Department of Treasury's inspector general for tax administration issued a startling report entitled “Individuals Who Are Not Authorized to Work in the United States Were Paid $4.2 Billion in Refundable Credits… It is clear that unauthorized aliens are filing ITIN tax returns with fraudulent data. The Treasury report found that one common type of fraudulent refund involves taxpayers fabricating a Wage and Tax Statement (Form W-2) that shows excess withholding and results in a tax refund. (Walsh)
Since unauthorized workers are not eligible to work in the United States, they are often paid cash in order to avoid tax reporting. This has become a major problem among those who do not pay taxes but still receive tax refunds. Instead of using the money from income taxes to improve or develop the community and country, the government has to pay a refund to those illegal workers who do not contribute their part to the country and those who deserve help. This activity should not be tolerated. The government needs to find a better strategy to examine tax return documents; otherwise, it will lose billions to those who cheat on their taxes. Besides deceitfully taking advantage of refundable tax credits, illegal workers also get other benefits from the government in the form of food assistance programs and Medicaid. As most legal workers have to work hard to make money for their own family expenses, illegal immigrants use the gaps in the law to find a way to get benefits from the government. One program that the government founded to help low-income American families is the food stamp program. The food stamp program was established in 1965 by the federal government to help low-income families buy food. The eligibility rules and benefit levels at the federal level are generally uniform across all states. In Virginia, the food stamp program was officially changed to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in October 2009. (Alexis)
This program is very popular among illegal people who are able to claim the benefits after the birth of their first child in the United States. Usually the program only serves low-income Americans; in order to quality for SNAP they have to show information such as income statements, housing expenses, and identification to prove their eligibility. However, some families have a mix of illegal, usually parents, and legal people, children who due to their birth are natural born citizens, living together and able to claim benefits from the program (North). According to the Center of Immigration Studies (CIS) report the costs of food stamp, the Women, Infants and Children program (WIC) and free school lunch programs to illegal alien households is $1.9 billion per year (Topix local news). Not only does the government have to pay for SNAP to illegal immigrant families, it also pays $2.5 billion a year in Medicaid payments (Barbour 38). With that in mind it is not a big surprise to learn that illegal immigrants receive free prenatal care, nutrition, medication, birthing classes, child care classes and free supplies such as formula, diapers, bottles, car seats, etc. Taxpayers subsequently bear the burden of Medicaid expenses estimated to be 20-40 percent of uncompensated medical services provided to people in the US illegally (Vliet 72). These health care payments are uncompensated or non-recoupable and the government of course cannot turn its back on those who lack insurance or ability to pay even if they are illegal. Another major concern for illegal immigrants is fraudulent documentation for employment authorization. Since illegal immigrants lack legitimate documents when they apply for a job, they often provide fraudulent documents such as a fake or stolen Social Security Number, Driver’s license, and/or a permanent resident card (Green Card) obtained by thieves. Because people have become very protective of their personal information, often it is expensive to purchase, difficult to steal, and easy to detect identity theft, so thieves have begun targeting children. “Children's Social Security numbers are especially valuable for employment purposes. Children do not use their Social Security numbers for employment, credit, or other purposes so the illegal use of their Social Security numbers can go unnoticed for many years,” (Mortensen). This activity has the potential to harm innocent children’s future. They may end up with adverse tax and criminal records, and a ruined credit report due to no fault of their own. Their names are destroyed as a consequence. Mortensen says, “They can have income tax liabilities attached to their names for unpaid taxes on revenue earned on their Social Security numbers and they can be denied public benefits such as critically needed Medicaid coverage because wages are being reported on their Social Security numbers,” (Mortensen). To protect against this illegal action, employers can and should be required to use E-Verify protection, an Internet-based system that allows businesses to determine the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States, stopping the use of fraudulent documents especially stolen Social Security Numbers. Also the victims should be allowed to sue reckless and irresponsible employers for damage that occurs to them. The mistreatment of illegal employees is also a big issue that goes against ethics, morality, and the law. The United States is a country that has very strict laws to protect the rights of individuals. The constitution says that no one is above the law and that everybody has to follow the law. However, many employers mistreat and take advantage of illegal employees; for instance, employers often pay lower wages than is required under the law. Since illegal workers are not eligible to work in the United States legally, they cannot negotiate or compromise their compensation. Many times the employers do not pay illegal workers a fair living wage. A personal example involves a case where immigrants employed at a Thai restaurant were only paid $70 for working a 13 hour day. Instead of earning hourly wages and tips from customers, the owner of the restaurant paid an unreasonable flat wage and retained all the tips for themselves. Because the servers do not have legal employment authorization, they concede their rights and become prey to the mistreatment of dishonest businesses. On top of that, employees lack job security and have to do everything the owner orders them to do. (Anurak) Many employers prefer to hire illegal workers because they are able to take advantage of employees who are unfamiliar with local laws, especially those employers who are from the same country as the illegal workers. Thousands of illegal workers find themselves in similar situations and are forced to accept unfair working conditions for meager pay. This is a wide spread problem that has been occurring for a long time. The Department of Labor should monitor employees in workplaces prone to immigrant mistreatment so that they can find a solution to this malady. These problems mentioned above may seem superficial, but if one examines those problems closely, then the severity of the situation can be understood. However, if the problems are ignored, they will grown and finally result in a relentless problem that is difficult to rectify. Police officers should be authorized to ask and confirm the legal identity of delinquent people instead of ignoring their suspicions and letting them go. Somewhere in Washington, D.C., an officer will probably encounter a speeding vehicle and begin a lawful traffic stop asking for license, registration and proof of insurance -- a universal verification process that is the same for everyone. And that vehicle might be loaded with 9 people who speak no English, have no driver’s licenses, no vehicle registration, no auto insurance, no social security numbers and maybe only Mexican consular cards or Gold’s Gym Cards. At that point common sense might suggest that asking about immigration status is warranted. But Mayor Gray thinks that D.C. residents will be better off if the officer ignores the obvious and just says “have a nice day,” (Dane).
This nonsensical action leads to a misperception of American law. Illegal immigrants feel that they are immune from enforcement of the law and are welcomed to live in this country without legal documents. The problems and harmful actions that illegal immigrants cause are nationwide and in due time, they will grow larger resulting a detrimental affect on American society. The state and federal government should enforce immigration laws to deport illegal immigrants who live in the US and find a strategy to prevent individuals from crossing the border or overstaying their visas in order to cure the current problem’s occurring and preventing new ones that may happen in the future.