Posted On: October 25, 2005, 3:44 pm CDT

Posted By: Russ Vollmer

While I think the court may have overstepped its bounds with respect to what the CA DOI apparently approved in the WC filing, one must consider that just maybe an illegal immigrant is entitled to protection as any employee hurt on the job - just by being an employee. However, the illegal's payroll was probably never declared in the policy and that falls squarely on the employer's shoulders. The insurer is entitled to premium for the exposure insured, although there's probably no practical way to audit cash paid to illegal immigrants. The only way might be to pull surprise inspections at jobsites and factories and match those who are identified with payroll records. The tax people would probably have some interest in that, too.

As for the anti-Bush aspect of all this, it's no secret that he has maintained a hands-off policy on illegal immigration and has only offered the soft-handed approach of giving these people some amnesty over time. Doing that without securing the borders is certainly not the way this country should be handling the problem - it just invites more illegal immigration.

Finally, it's not just "rich business people" who are to blame for the problem, either, because in a sense, it is also all of us who want the cheapest product or service we can get. This creates a market for illegals who will work for low wages because even at that level, it's more than they can make at home. Moreover, being part of a competitive world economy, US business is forced to cut its costs to the bone in order to compete with emerging nations where the cost of doing business is lower and there are no legacy costs like pensions, etc. to figure into the product, otherwise, our domestic companies will lose out to competitors in the world marketplace. For example, how many of the electronic devises we love so much here are even made here anymore? Cost sutting is another reason why so many of our jobs are shipped overseas, too. The first obligation of corporate officers is the survival of their companies, next to which is making a profit, without which the company cannot exist and would not be around to provide any jobs.

The problem is not as simple as people on either side of the political spectrum would have us believe because of all the interconnecting ramifications in the larger world economy. This is not to defend those hiring illegal immigrants because they, too, are breaking the law. The only answer to the problem is to reinforce our borders to stem the flow, then find a way to deal with those who are here because we haven't the resources or systems in place to deport the millions we already have. By not minding our borders, we have created a huge monster and we need to keep it from getting larger before dealing with it, not to mention the security and drug problems that also accompany illegal entry.