Path to Citizenship for Undocumented Workers

LNR can’t understand the approach of the Administration and Congress towards undocumented workers. They keep arguing about “how” to get undocumented workers on the “path” of citizenship. Why ? They don’t need “citizenship” to “work and live” in America, all they need is a green card. In fact, giving them a “path” to a green card is NOT what America needs. The utility and demand for undocumented workers is for a pool of largely uneducated people who will work for below minimum wage. There is NO demand for MORE citizens- or green card holders- unless they are educated, speak English and have a marketable skill- WHY WHY would we give green cards or citizenship to millions of uneducated non-English speaking people. Well, the “path” to citizenship would entail- educating them for a skill and English- but that is terrible- the American economy demands “low wage” workers- not more citizens per se. The mainstream immigration debate is completely sidestepping the real issue- American business demands for low wage labor. LNR’s solution is a temporary work card- which makes them documented, pay some basic deductions to cover basic medical costs, some tax contributions for services they use, but, allowing them to be paid below legal minimum wage for certain job categories. This, and ONLY this is, what American business wants from these undocumented workers. If we educate them and upgrade their skills and language- we will be losing the VERY resource industry is demanding- !! low wage workers. The reason you accept a low wage is twofold- most of your low wage earnings are being sent to countries where those earnings equate to HIGH wages- those dollars in Mexico buy a lot more than they do in America- so in that aspect- those lower wages are NOT an exploitation of these workers. In fact, paying below legal-minimum wage is clearly a WIN WIN situation- where industries that require basic manual labor can afford to offer services, i.e. landscaping, at affordable rates- WIN, while those workers – even though being paid below minimum wage- support many family members back in their home country-WIN. If we put those undocumented workers on the path to citizenship where we must pay them legal wages- companies will go broke because if they have to pay higher wages and pass the costs to the consumer- many more American’s will not use those services- i.e. the average American household can pay $150-200 per month in landscaping maintenance- they will not use those services if it will cost $500 per month. You can eat at Denny’s or other restaurants when your average bill for a family is $18-27 , but not if that same meal is going to cost $40-70 per meal.

Don’t put illegal’s on the path to citizenship, put them on temporary work cards and allow them to be paid below minimum wage- they will NOT be stealing any jobs away from Americans. This has been proven by the last 20 years of the lowest unemployment rates in American history- despite 10-20 million illegal workers present in America.