We want cheap fresh produce 365 days a year and we want Mexicans to stay on their own side of the border.
We want affordable housing and we want to stop carpenters from coming to America.
When American spending power creates powerful economic forces attracting people to the U.S., it is unrealistic to expect people driving around in pickup trucks to sweep back the tide. There will never be enough pickup trucks or enough border guards.
If we really want to solve this problem, we have to bring our relationship with Mexico out of a morass of illegality and create legal structures that work for both countries.
It would have to start with reforming the demand for undocumented labor in the U.S. To make this work, it will have to be very painful for Americans to hire persons “off the books.” This ranges from vegetable farmers to homeowners who want a new sidewalk.
Farmers, construction company owners, or their agents, should be able to go to the border and hire workers. With documentation of hiring, the workers would be allowed to report to their jobs. It should be transparent, with the workers paid through computer systems that are available to immigration auditors.
When the workers are laid off, they should have a short window to leave the country. If they fail to leave the country, checking out at the border, within the specified time, they would be ineligible for further employment in the U.S.
The penalties for off-the-books hiring would have to be severe. Farmers paying legal wages to their workers will need to be comfortable that their competitors are also paying legal wages.
The public will have to realize that the cost of “border security” is higher prices for fresh produce, casual labor and construction.
Employers of immigrant labor should pay a fee. This would give an incentive to hire American workers if they actually want these jobs. It would also help pay the cost of administering the system.
Going forward, the U.S. will have to decide when these workers should become eligible for green cards that would allow them to work for multiple employers in the U.S., and when, and if, they could apply for citizenship.
It won’t be easy. But the current system of illegality costs many lives, wastes resources and remains an embarrassment to our country. Restoring the rule of law in this segment of our economy is worth the cost.