The Hiring of Illegal Immigrants in Tennessee

I personally don’t see any excuse that an employer in Tennessee could have for hiring illegal immigrants, and I think that employers who knowingly do this should face severe fines and other forms of punishment. We hear that most companies or businesses hire illegal immigrants for jobs that American’s don’t want to do. Well, with unemployment at an all time high, I doubt seriously if you would find a person that was unemployed and looking for work, that would agree with this philosophy. My son was in a carpenter’s union but he couldn't find work in the Knoxville area. There was plenty of construction going on, but the contractor’s were hiring illegal immigrants because they would work for a lot cheaper wages than the trained carpenter, but how can an employer justify this? Some employers hire the illegals over and over again, knowing that they are in this country, and in this state, illegally. With the federal e-Verify system in place, and with it being 99.5% accurate, there is no excuse for an employer to hire someone who is here illegally. No matter what documentation that is given to the potential employer, they are responsible for verifying the documentation through the federal government e-Verify system. Apparently, fake documents are easily accessible to someone who wants to come to the states illegal, and employers should be aware of this fact. When employers become known to the illegal community, they entice more and more illegal’s to come for work. Once in the state, it costs tax payers more and more. If they bring their children, we the tax payer, pay for their schooling. If they need medical attention, we taxpayers pay for the medical expenses. If they break the law, we taxpayers pay to incarcerate them. Most of the money they make goes back to their country, mainly Mexico, and we lose tax revenue, because illegal immigrants do not pay taxes. We American’s must take a stand and if we know of an employer that is hiring illegal immigrants, we must report them. There was a law that went into effect in Tennessee on January 1, 2008, that if a company is caught knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, that company could possible lose their business or be forced to close. I certainly support this law. There are many Tennesseans out of work and the unemployed of this fine state should not have to compete for a job with someone who is here illegally. The average person in Tennessee could not afford work for the low wages that are paid to illegal immigrants. The employer that offers jobs to illegal immigrants sometimes also put the lives of that illegal immigrant at risk. There was a company that was located close to where I live and this company was in the business of clearing of right-a-ways. The owner also owned a storage facility that he rented out storage units to the public. It became alleged that 15 illegal aliens from Mexico were working for this company and they were living in one of the storage units! They drove company vehicles and operated company equipment, but none were supposed to have had legal TN driver’s license. The company was reported, but before anyone came to investigate, suddenly all the Mexican’s were gone, from the job and from the storage unit. Hopefully the owner of this company learned his lesson, but how many other companies do this every day? They hire the illegals to save money, because they will work for so much less money, but the State of Tennessee government needs to make companies pay stiff fines if they get caught, and not just give them a simple slap on the back of the hand. I am in no way against immigration, this country was founded on immigration, but I just want an immigrant who wants to come to America, and who wants to become an American citizen, and who wants to work in Tennessee, to do it legal. Many that have come before them, and many that will come after them, have gone through the proper procedures and taken the appropriate steps to become a legal employee or a legal resident. It is not fair to the people of Tennessee who are unemployed to be overlooked for a job just because it would cost the employer more to hire the legal resident than it would to hire the illegal immigrant. It is estimated that more than 200,000 illegal immigrants are now residing in Tennessee, so the employer who wants to hire cheap labor, has a lot to choose from! http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1185221678150.shtm http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/tennessee.html http://www.ehow.com/list_6694797_tennessee-illegal-immigration-laws.html