IF THEY CANNOT WORK, THEY WILL NOT COME:
AND MANY WILL RETURN TO THEIR HOMELANDS
SYNOPSIS:

    All immigrant families must find work in their new countries.
If official registration is required in order to gain employment,
all prospective immigrants will consider their chances
of getting proper registration and authorization to work.

    Does the United States need new systems of work-authorization?
How have millions of foreign workers slipped thru the cracks?

    As universal registration of all authorized workers becomes more complete,
many foreign nationals will return voluntarily to their homelands,
where their citizenship will always allow them to seek employment.

OUTLINE:

1.  MOST UNAUTHORIZED IMMIGRANTS JOIN THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY.

2.  ENFORCING WAGE AND LABOR LAWS.

3.  FAKE PAPERS TO OBTAIN EMPLOYMENT.

4.  COMPUTER FILES CAN BE MORE SECURE.

5.  AUTHORIZED WORKERS DATABASE.

6.  NO REGISTRATION, NO WORK.

7.  CONCLUSION: BETTER REGISTRATION OF FOREIGN WORKERS
     MIGHT BE THE BEST STEP TOWARD IMMIGRATION REFORM. 


IF THEY CANNOT WORK, THEY WILL NOT COME:
AND MANY WILL RETURN TO THEIR HOMELANDS

 by James Leonard Park

    Why do thousands of people each week stream into the United States from other countries?
They come to reunite with those parts of their families already living in the USA.
They come because other members of their families have invited them to emigrate.
They come in a hope of a better life than would have been possible at home.
They come because people-smugglers have told them
of the wonderful opportunities available to them in the USA.
And they have already paid thousands of dollars to the people-smugglers
because they trust the smugglers to get them settled in the United States.

    But this is the most fundamental fact about historic immigration:
All of the millions of people who have come to the New World
have emigrated because they believed
that they would have a better life in the United States or Canada.
These countries of North America are the land of opportunity
for people who saw less hope for their lives in their homelands.

    The most basic fact about this hope for a better life
is that the new immigrants will find employment in the USA or Canada.
Those who are too young and too old to join the work-force
can still hope for a better life because of the possibilities for education
(which will prepare them for employment later)
or because they know that the income-support systems
of their adopted country will keep them alive.

1.  MOST UNAUTHORIZED IMMIGRANTS JOIN THE UNDERGROUND ECONOMY.

    Every year both the United States and Canada admit thousands of immigrants
thru their normal methods of selecting and registering newcomers.
They are officially registered and each country keeps track of these authorized immigrants
until they can become naturalized citizens some years later.

    But the numbers of immigrants who enter without authorization
is larger than the numbers who are granted official permission
to emigrate to either the USA or Canada.

     Under present laws in both Canada and the USA,
these citizens of other countries who have entered without permission
have no legal authorization to work.

    Thus they are forced into the underground economy of their adopted country.
They will work 'off the books'.
This means that there will be no official record that they were ever employed.
They will be paid in cash, which means that they have no proof
if they are not paid as much as they had agreed to in advance.
They might have to work in unsafe and unsanitary conditions
because the underground economy is not subject to health and safety regulations,
which applies to all legitimate forms of employment.

    In the underground economy, they are subject to arbitrary rules
that can be changed at any time by the employer.
They have no legal protection from any kinds of discrimination
or exploitation on the job.  

    Read more about the 'informal sector':
The Underground Economy:
Bring All Economic Activity into the Open

2.  ENFORCING WAGE AND LABOR LAWS.

    Individuals and groups operating without
registration, taxation, or compliance with labor laws
constitute about 10% of the economy of the United States of America.
Many other countries have an even larger percentage of their economic activity underground.

    The underground economy operates without licensing by any government body.
The employers pay no insurance of any kind:
no workers' compensation insurance,
no unemployment insurance,
no disability insurance,
no liability insurance, etc.
They offer no fringe benefits such as paid vacations or family leave.
They do not comply with local, state, or federal health or safety regulations.
They do not withhold or pay any local, state, or federal taxes.
They might not pay the minimum wage.
They sometimes employ children,
who would not be permitted to work under most labor laws.
They pay in cash and keep no records.
And they do not ask about the immigration status of any workers.

    Better enforcement of all laws related to employment
would bring at least some of this underground economy out of the shadows.
And foreign nationals now exploited by sweatshops
would see their working conditions improve remarkably.

    Sometimes unscrupulous employers classify their workers as "independent contractors"
in order to avoid the various costs and labor requirements under law.
But if these workers are really being directed by the employer
and being paid by the hour, for example,
then they are legally employees.
And they should be covered by all laws concerning wages and work-place.

    All honest taxpayers would benefit by better enforcement
because the estimated $1 trillion in the underground economy
would finally be taxed.
Some economists estimate that more complete taxation
might even eliminate the present federal deficit.

    If it is correct that 10% of the U.S. economy is underground,
then it could not be attributed entirely to foreign nationals working 'off the books',
since unregistered foreign nationals make up only about 4% of the U.S. population.
Thus efforts to bring all employment up to standard
would not be seen as enforcing immigration laws.
Different agencies would be involved
(IRS, Labor Department, state attorneys general, local police).
Everyone living in the USA will benefit when labor laws are enforced.

    The underground economy could be sub-divided
into legal and illegal ways of making money.
Lawful activities often not registered, taxed, etc. include:
child-care at home;
restaurant, food-service, food-processing, meat-packing;
garment industries;
landscape and lawn-care;
construction, remodeling, roofing;
hotel, retail, & office services and cleaning, other janitorial work.

    All such lawful endeavors taking place 'off the books'
should be reported to the most appropriate local or state office
responsible for enforcing wage and labor laws.
Federal offices such as the Internal Revenue Service
will also be involved in reforming the black market.

    Simple observation of all workplaces
will discover some elements of the unregistered and unlicensed economy.
This should lead to enforcement of wage and labor laws for everyone.
Often people employed in the legitimate parts of the same industries
know where their underground competitors are operating.
The unregistered and untaxed parts of the economy are unfair competition
for workers and employers who comply with all applicable laws.

    Perhaps rewards should be paid to people who report sweatshops
and other parts of the underground economy.

    Another simple way to find underground industries
is to follow the electricity:
Wherever large amounts of electricity are being used,
there should be some registered industry.
Sweatshops are paying the electric company
even if they are not paying the Internal Revenue Service.

    The criminal parts of the underground economy
will be harder to discover and regulate:
people-smuggling;
drug-smuggling and money-laundering;
false documents;
illegal gambling;
prostitution.
When such illegal activities are discovered,
they should be reported to local law-enforcement.

    Whenever unregistered foreign nationals are discovered
thru any efforts to enforce wage laws and labor laws,
the workers should NOT be dismissed from that employment.
Such dismissal would only mean that they would seek other jobs,
perhaps even deeper in the underground economy.

    Rather, a national system should be established for registering all foreign nationals
whenever they are discovered by any level of government.
Instead of sending them back to their homelands
(from which they would immediately try to return to the United States),
they should all be officially registered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,
including all family members who can be discovered.

    The work-places will be brought into compliance with all relevant laws.
And all of the workers will be registered and photographed.
But if the product or service is otherwise a legal business,
the employees should be permitted to continue working.

    Later, decisions will have to be made about
which foreign nationals will be permitted to remain in the USA.
Some of these will be offered pathways to earning American citizenship.
And other will be repatriated to their countries of citizenship,
where they always have a right to seek employment.

    Those discovered engaging in criminal activities
will be taken into custody and handled within the criminal-justice systems.
Some of these will be tried, convicted,
& sentenced to serve terms of imprisonment in the USA.
Others will be returned to their countries of origin,
if those countries are willing and able
to deal appropriately with their criminal behavior.

    For clarity of thinking, it will be useful to distinguish
immigration violations (such as overstaying a visa,
using false documents, working without authorization, etc.)
from violations of law that apply to everyone within the USA.
Gun-running and drug-dealing are criminal offenses no matter who does them.

    But gathering at an informal day-labor site looking for legitimate work
is not as serious a violation of law.
Short-term contracts to provide legitimate services
can (and should) be brought within all applicable laws. 



3.  FAKE PAPERS TO OBTAIN EMPLOYMENT.

    Sometimes the kinds of work foreign nationals can obtain
are somewhat above board:
They might have income taxes withheld by the employer.
And they might be paying into the Social Security system.
(But if they never become citizens of their new country,
they will never be permitted to collect Social Security benefits after retirement.)

    In order to work 'above ground',
they are required to have some papers or cards
that seem to give them official authorization to work in their new country.
In the United States, green cards
authorize foreign nationals to live and work in the USA.

    But there are millions of fake green cards in use.
No matter what security measures are added to green cards,
criminal enterprises can duplicate those features.

    In the USA, all workers are supposed to have Social Security Numbers.
But these cards and numbers are also easy to obtain thru criminal channels.
Social Security Numbers can be created out of thin air.
Or the identities of real citizens can be stolen.

    All past systems of work-authorization had major flaws:
 
    Real ID tried to build from the state registrations for drivers' licenses.
But foreign nationals found ways to get around
the state systems for issuing drivers' licenses and/or other state IDs.

    E-Verify was supposed to check Social Security Numbers of applicants
against the database run by the Social Security Administration.
But criminals found ways to steal valid Social Security Numbers,
so all such checking was worthless.
How many unauthorized workers have evaded the E-Verify system?

4.  COMPUTER FILES CAN BE MORE SECURE.

    What is needed in all countries that register their citizens and visitors
is a fool-proof, very secure computer file for each man, woman, & child.
This would replace all paper or plastic documents
that have been used in the past.
Instead of presenting something that the applicants can carry with them,
the persons applying for jobs will provide their names and numbers
so that their identities can be verified by looking at their computer Files.

    The top item in each computer File will be a recent picture of the person.
The personnel officer will carefully compare the picture with the face of the applicant.
If there is no match, there will be no job.
And if there is any uncertainty of identity,
other facts about the real person will be contained in the Identity File,
which can be checked against the facts provided by the applicant.

    Such a change to National Identity Files
from various forms of paper and plastic identification
will present new problems.
For example, some people will attempt to create false identities in the National Identity Bureau.
But because the computer system itself
will keep information about how each File was created,
it will be possible to uncover and correct false data.
And the persons who inserted the false information
can be fired and put into prison.

    The National Identity File for each authorized worker
will begin with a picture of that person.
Name and address will also identify this person.
Old forms of identity fraud have included stealing names and numbers.
But it is much more difficult to steal the identity of someone
when his or her picture is the first item in the National Identity File.

    Not only will the impostor have to look like the real person,
but they will both have to live at the same address. 
And no one person can be in two places at the same time.
Simple cross-checking will discover fake work-authorizations.

    If we doubt the security of electronic information,
we need only to remember the credit-card systems now working:
Every day millions of dollars are transferred,
mostly without mistakes or theft.
A national identity system using computer files could be even more secure.

    More details about creating and operating
a new National Identity Bureau for the USA will be found here:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-NID.html.

5.  AUTHORIZED WORKERS DATABASE.

    Short of creating a complete listing for all citizens and visitors,
it would be possible for the USA or Canada to create
a computerized database for all persons authorized to work.
This would be created in the same format needed for the National Identity Files,
but it would not immediately attempt to list everyone in the country.

    Rather, it would be a computer record of all persons authorized to work in that country.
This computer record would also start with a current picture of the worker.
And other necessary data would be included in the same computer file for that person.

    Then employment officers would consult the database
of all persons authorized to work in that country
whenever someone new applies for a job.

    And as the system becomes more complete,
employers should be required to check all current employees
against the national work-authorization database.

    Such checking and cross-checking will identify some workers and applicants
who are not authorized to work in the USA or Canada.

    Depending on other decisions in each country about immigration,
it would be possible for settled immigrants not previously registered
to register at the time when their unauthorized employment was discovered.
Such registration might grant them at least temporary permission
to continue working in their current positions
or to change to other employment.
They would be registered even tho they have not yet been given
full permission to remain in the country indefinitely.

    Bringing previously-unauthorized workers out of the shadows
will improve their work-status
as well as provide more information upon which to base
future decisions about immigration reform.



6.  NO REGISTRATION, NO WORK.

    Once this new policy is well established,
all prospective immigrants to any country that has this policy
will think twice about emigrating:
They will know in advance that registration is required in order to obtain employment.

    And if they know that registration will eventually result
in them being returned to their homelands,
they will decide to stay home, where they do definitely have a right to work,
rather than risk trying to get employment in a country that requires registration.

    In short, if they know in advance that they will not be able to work,
they will not cross the border without authorization.

    And as the system of registration for permission to work becomes more complete,
a certain number of people already working without authorization to be in the country
will voluntarily return to their homelands,
where as citizens they will always have authorization to seek employment.

    After work-authorization is established in any country,
prospective immigrants will first seek official permission to enter the country
before they take the risks of emigration without authorization.
And foreign nationals already settled in any country
will evaluate their chances of staying in that country after they are registered.

    Universal registration of all citizens and visitors
might be the ultimate goal of any National Identity Bureau.
And each year as the number of people officially registered increases,
the number of unregistered foreign nationals will decrease.

    Immigration reform in each country will decide exactly which persons
will be permitted to stay in that country.
Which of these will be offered pathways to citizenship?
Inevitably, some foreign nationals will be returned to their homelands.
Exactly who will be permitted to stay and who will go home
will depend on the new laws created to replace outdated immigration laws.

    More details about universal registration in the USA will be found here:

"Register All Foreign Nationals:
Carrots and Sticks":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-REG.html.

"Registration without Deportation:
Bringing Millions of Foreign Nationals out of the Shadows":
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/CY-REG-D.html.

7.  CONCLUSION: BETTER REGISTRATION OF FOREIGN WORKERS
     MIGHT BE THE BEST STEP TOWARD IMMIGRATION REFORM. 

    Because it is necessary for every individual to make a living somehow,
every person who considers emigrating to another country
will necessarily ask: "How will I make a living there?"
And if the prospective new country has good systems of work-authorization in place,
the would-be immigrant will seek permission before moving.
People-smugglers will no longer be able to sell their criminal services
with the false promise that the client will be able to work in the new country.

    The actual experience of millions of unauthorized immigrants
being returned to their homelands
will be dramatic proof to all others thinking of emigrating
that the underground methods do not work.

    And as improved work-authorization systems come into force,
millions of previously-unregistered workers will
have Identity Files created for them.
Some of these will be permitted to stay in their adopted countries.
New pathways to citizenship will be opened for them.
But others will be returned to their homelands.

    Only the actual creation and implementation of new work-authorization rules
will show how significant such changes will be.
If immigrants cannot work, will they stop coming?
If workers already settled without authorization
are required to register themselves and their families,
how many of these foreign nationals will return to their homelands?


Created March 26, 2011; Revised 4-3-2011; 4-5-2011; 5-12-2011; 10-1-2011; 10-21-2011; 11-18-2011;
4-19-2012; 6-28-2012; 9-22-2012; 1-16-2013

AUTHOR:

    James Park is himself an immigrant to the United States.
He was a child when his whole family was admitted to the USA.
So there was no way to know ahead of time what he might contribute.
But each family member has proven to be good for America.

    Much more about him will be found on his website,
an Existential Philosopher's Museum,
which now has more than 1,000 'rooms'.

    Some of these rooms contain other essays about immigration reform,
here listed in the order of their relevance to work-authorization:

The Underground Economy:
Bring All Economic Activity into the Open

Register All Foreign Nationals:
Carrots and Sticks 

Registration without Deportation:
Bringing Millions of Foreign Nationals out of the Shadows  .

National Identity File:
Our National Facebook . 

Twelve Million Foreign Nationals in the USA:
How Many Will Stay?

Expanding the DREAM Act:
New Pathways to Citizenship  .

Earning American Citizenship:
Be Above Average  .
I am an Immigrant  .  

IMMIGRATION REFORM:
A Range of Options  .

Comprehensive Repatriation of Citizens of other Countries and their Families  . 


Background information in Wikipedia:
Employment Authorization Document
Permanent residence (United States)--green cards


Go to the opening page for this website:
An Existential Philosopher's Museum
The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.