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Immigration overhaul may hit small businesses
Undocumented immigrant Katherine Taberes (L), originally from Colombia, watches during a watch party of President Barack Obama's speech on immigration on January 29, 2013 in the Queens borough of New York City. Obama called for immigration reform and a 'pathway to citizenship' for the nation's 11 million undocumented immigrants.
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Yesterday in Las Vegas, President Barack Obama said he wants Congress to give some 11 million undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship. Obama said it’s time to deal with the nation’s shadow economy.
"A place where employers may offer them less than the minimum wage,” Obama said. “Or make them work overtime without extra pay."
If you don't have citizenship papers, work options in the U.S. are limited. Just ask 49-year-old Maria Espinosa. She’s been in the U.S. for 25 years. She's cleaned houses, she's worked in fast food restaurants.
"Without papers we can do only, housekeeping, babysitting, landscaping, restaurants,” Espinosa said. “There were times when I was working for $6 an hour. Even $5. Even $5.”
Espinosa wants better work opportunities. And she actually caught a break at a fast food restaurant a few years ago.
"The manager said, ‘Oh Maria, your work is pretty good. You can be promoted to chief manager, or assistant manager.’ The problem is that I had to have a real Social Security number,” Espinosa said.
That real Social Security number means she could stand up for herself, ask for more money, maybe go look for a different job.
So if millions of workers are suddenly able to do exactly that, what happens to small businesses who have been relying on cheap labor?
Raul Hinojosa, a political economist at UCLA, said, “The only ones that are gonna go under are the ones who are completely dependent on this undocumented labor force.”
Hinojosa studied what happened in 1986 -- that's the last time that millions of undocumented workers were granted citizenship in the U.S. Wages went up 15 to 20 percent. Sweatshops and some other businesses closed down. And he said if Congress acts again, it'll be difficult to find workers for certain jobs.
"You may find it a little bit difficult to find someone who is gonna take care of your grandmother,” Hinojosa said. “You may not see a plentiful supply of people parking cars. Restaurants? You may not see as many busboys."
But Hinojosa knows that some companies will adapt. And, he said, there are economic benefits to small businesses when workers suddenly become citizens.
“They learn English, they finish their GEDs, which they never did before because they were scared and lived in the shadows," he said. "They become more productive workers for their employers.”
And hopefully as citizens, experienced workers like Maria Espinosa can leave behind cleaning and fast food jobs once and for all.
What happened when there was amnesty in 1986? Those jobs that the Ms. Espinosa is so picky about are now filled again! There are millions waiting to get over and fill them again and so on and so on...so I don't see how amnesty stops the illegal immigration...it seems like it would encourage it! Why bother to go the legal route?
While I am encouraged by all of the optimistic potential benefits of the program - as in the 1986 program - I am troubled by the underlying message here: don't worry about following any rules or laws, cheating will get you what you want.
It appears that such luminaries as Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds are doing more to influence our morals and ethics than an arkfull of clergy or a Capitolfull of Congresspersons.
Ok, maybe those aren't the best examples, but, you get the idea.......
Couldn't the current crop of undocumented workers just start at the beginning of the process right now, and do it properly, like they should have done upon their arrival? (Perhaps they could skip the part about confessing on Oprah first, tho....please)
This story is incredibly myopic. Do you realize that these small business employers are getting a low cost of labor by exploiting people who cannot protect themselves? I suppose you could have written a similar article in 1860 about the terrible plight plantation owners would face if slavery were abolished. Allowing immigrant workers to legitimize their status, and extending to them the right to be paid legally mandated wages and benefits is unambiguously good for our country and its people. Continuing the exploitation of undocumented immigrant workers is NOT an honorable situation, and no sympathy should be extended to the exploiters of these workers.
Mr. Burke, you have at least two factual issues with your article as broadcast, and as printed on-line. You, and many others -- media folks, legislators and more -- just don't understand how the immigration system works. But it IS complicated.
The two statements in question:
"If you don't have citizenship papers, work options in the U.S. are limited."
"Hinojosa studied what happened in 1986 -- that's the last time that millions of undocumented workers were granted citizenship in the U.S. "
First, you don't need to be a citizen to work legally in the U.S. True, citizens can work, but so can lawful permanent residents (who are said to have "Green Cards"), as well as asylees, refugees, individuals with "deferred action", applicants for certain legal status, and yet even more categories.
Second, the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 did not make ANYONE a citizen. Included in that legislation were pathways to allow undocumented individuals to obtain legal status. Initially, the law afforded certain individuals two distinct pathways to obtain "temporary" residence, which could convert, in most cases to permanent residence. Thereafter, an individual could then apply for naturalization as a U.S. citizen.
The immigration laws are complex and nuanced, but even non-lawyers should be able to wrap their minds around the difference between being a U.S. citizen and a lawful permanent resident. My clients certainly understood the difference when their rights were explained to them. Can't you use the proper terms when referring to citizens, those who already have legal status, and those who strive to gain the right to remain lawfully?
I find it offensive to imply that all housekeeping and nanny duties are jobs people can't wait to get away from.
While I agree legal workers can and should be able to fight for better wages if they aren't getting a fair day's pay, the implication here is that these jobs are in and of themselves abhorrent. I am a well educated middle upper class American who has done both jobs- they are good work as long as you are not being taken advantage of.
It isn't that the jobs are intrinsically abhorrent. I have washed my share of dishes in my youth and am none the worse for wear. The problem is that many employers (but certainly not all) use the tenuous status of the undocumented to exploit them. The only reason undocumented workers are so cheap compared to you and me, is that they can't or won't assert there rights to things like minimum wages or worker's comp. insurance. If the undocumented were paid at the same rate as documented workers there would be no increase in cost as we transition to an all legal workforce at the bottom of the pyramid. Hence this article bemoaning the societal cost of legalizing the undocumented is really bemoaning the cost of the loss of the opportunity to exploit. That's why this article is crap.
