Why Our Broken Immigration System Stays Broken

This is my last post in January. I am going on vacation, and my next post will be on February.

Unscrupulous Employers Benefit  

If you want to know why we are unable to reform our broken immigration system, look no further. Our immigration system remains broken because thousands of unscrupulous employers profit from the broken system. This story tells about the extensive exploitation of undocumented immigrant children in the roofing business. The children do dangerous work. They are paid less than the minimum wage; they do not receive benefits like Social Security, unemployment insurance or health insurance. They die at six times the rate of children in other occupations. The children are vulnerable to this exploitation for fear of losing their jobs and for fear of being deported. The children's vulnerability forms the basis of the business model on which their employers operate. The model allows the employers to reduce their costs and thus, to offer lower prices than their competitors who follow the law.

This business model is not limited the roofing business, and it is not limited to children. All over the United States, businesses make huge profits by exploiting the vulnerability of undocumented, immigrant workers. The state of Wisconsin has documented widespread misclassification of workers as independent contractors rather than as employees, and a union official told me that immigrants are especially subject to this practice. A recent NY Times article detailed the extensive illegal use of immigrant child labor in factories and on industrial farms all over the United States. Practices like misclassification and the illegal use of child labor allow employers to pay their workers less than the minimum wage and to avoid the cost of Social Security, unemployment insurance and health insurance. The workers are unable to complain because they fear being deported.

A Pool of Vulnerable Workers

Our broken immigration system has thus created a huge pool of vulnerable workers. Their existence allows employers to make big profits illegally and also limits the growth of unions that could fight for the workers' rights.  If the immigration status of these workers were regularized, they would no longer be vulnerable. The businesses that hire them would lose their illegal profits and would have to compete on an equal basis with law-abiding business. Naturally, the businesses that profit from our broken system resist any changes that threaten their illegal business model. 

Our Broken Immigration System Helps to Elect Republican Politicians

The fact that undocumented immigrants may be paid less than American workers is used in propaganda to weaken unions and divide the working class. Workers are told that immigrants are taking American jobs and that workers should vote for Republican candidates who promise to limit immigration. The workers are not told that the root of the problem is not in the immigrants themselves but in the broken immigration system that keeps them in a position where they can be exploited. If they became citizens, they would not be so vulnerable to exploitation, and all workers would benefit. Unsurprisingly, the companies that exploit the undocumented workers do not want American voters to see that. 

Of course, the Republican candidates who promise to shut down immigration do not really do so because if they did, they would eliminate the pool of exploitable workers. However, the candidates do vote for low taxes and reduced environmental regulation, and that benefits our corporate oligarchs. Most businesses benefit from low taxes and reduced regulation even if they do not themselves exploit undocumented workers. So, most businesses benefit from our broken immigration system as long as it can be used to induce American workers to vote for Republicans. However, the issue can be used in that way only as long as the pool of undocumented immigrants remains large. So, our oligarchs have no interest in reforming our immigration system, and therefore, it remains broken. Our broken immigration system is a weapon in the war on America's workers.