"I'm here to tell you that your president, your secretary of labor and this department will not allow anyone to be denied his or her rightful pay — especially when so many in our nation are working long, hard and often dangerous hours. We can help, and we will help. If you work in this country, you are protected by our laws. And you can count on the U.S. Department of Labor to see to it that those protections work for you."
"The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is responsible for administering and enforcing some of the nation's most important worker protection laws. WHD is committed to ensuring that workers in this country are paid properly and for all the hours they work, regardless of immigration status." {Link}
Hummmm, Lets see.
"… not allow anyone to be denied his or her rightful pay…"
No argument there…
"… workers in this country are paid properly and for all the hours they work, regardless of immigration status…
again, totally agree.
However, if you're not in the United States legally, then you should still get paid for what you are owed...
... nothing!
Simply because technically you are not allowed to even be working or living in the United States to earn a wage in the first place.
I know... details... details
But what I would really like to know is what is the thinking behind these public service announcements and if it has something to do with the Arizona law and other states and cities that are developing similar ordinances.
You have to admit... if nothing else, it's interesting.
6 comments:
If I were running a railroad and employed someone to check the tickets of my passengers, I would expect that employee to put a passenger without a ticket off at the next available stop.
Does that make me a racist?
.
There is some intelligence behind the everyone gets paid idea... If you guarantee that everyone must be paid at least the federal minimum wage.. then there will no longer be the incentive for big companies to hire and yes (import) illegal immigrants. Make no mistake big corporations are benefiting greatly from the illegal immigrant. It is a LAW that everyone make at least minimun wage, If we actually start enforcing the law ( all the Laws) there will be no ILLEGAL immigrants. Think about it!
Clif-you might think so but businesses already break the law by hiring illegals why would they not continue to break the law by not paying them minimum wage? Sure the Federal government might agree to anonymous whistle blowers but do you really think an illegal is going to risk angering his employer to find out.
Bobkatt is right. Very few illegal immigrants are going to complain to the Feds about being paid unfairly. The fear of losing their job would be too high.
In any case, cliff is right too. The main reason for hiring illegal immigrants is that they are willing to work for less. This includes not just less wages but less rights as well. If employers feel pressured to give illegals higher wages and/or more labor rights, then those employers will be less likely to hire illegals. This is a good thing.
On the other hand, the easier it is for employers of illegals to pay them sub-minimum wages or to cheat or abuse or them, the more tempting it will be to hire illegals.
Incidentally, has it occurred to you that if a business does get reported to the Department of Labor for underpaying illegals, that business might soon be investigated for illegal hiring? A policy like this could be a way of identifying lawbreaking businesses. It could even be a way to make businesses more reluctant to hire illegals because they *fear* that they might be reported.
For all these reasons, the overall effect of Solis's statement will be to discourage illegal immigration (mostly by discouraging hiring) - not to promote it.
Please consider changing your headline to something more appropriate:
"Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis Takes Steps to Curb Illegal Immigration, 'You Have the Right to Be Paid Fairly Whether Documented or Not'"
I would cut the Feds more slack if I thought they were serious about controlling the invasion. But when you look at their record you have to question their motives.
After 9/11 you would think that border security would be of prime importance but not so. Money was allocated for more fencing and it took years to get about 7 miles of fence built. It's like pulling teeth to get anything done.
It's obvious with NAFTA and the North American Union that the official agenda is open borders.
Dear Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis,
Please understand that the great majority of all LEGAL US residents, including LEGAL immigrants, do not want any form of Amnesty or Dream Act for the criminals who have broken laws and are trespassing in our fine country. We have laws that control immigration and the laws are fine. The problem is that the laws are not uniformly enforced as they should be and the borders are not controlled as they should be.
Those who have chosen to enter the US illegally or who have entered legally and then chose to remain illegally are not to be trusted and must leave the US. They should seek the legal ways of entering the US and this needs to be done from their home country and not from within the US. They are just common criminals and deserve nothing other than our help in getting them home as quickly as possible. They have shown their true colors and do not obey or respect our laws, customs and culture. They believe they are above the law and that they are free to come here and cheat our systems without any fear of our enforcing our laws.
The people and companies that hire illegal aliens are also criminals. They are the root evil of the immigration system as they encourage criminals to invade our borders to seek compensation for doing jobs at much greater wages than they find at home. They are the magnet that entices the illegals. The criminals who hire illegals need to be convicted and given harsh punishment and lose the ability to unfairly compete in our economic system.
And the criminals who furnish living quarters and sanctuary to the illegal aliens need to be punished; for if the illegals had no place to stay and no job they would have no reason to remain here in their criminal status. Landlords and people (including towns, cities and other municipalities) who harbor the illegal aliens need to be convicted and given harsh sentences including losing their property in a similar way as drug dealers lose theirs in a criminal enterprise.
I have just read and heard where you indicate that the Criminal Illegal Aliens are "entitled" to a fair wage regardless of their status. How absurd is that? They cannot legally work here, they cannot legally accept any payment for their labor here, they cannot earn any form of income here - so how can they be "entitled" to any wage at all? They would not be here except for our lax system of law enforcement and because we have criminals who are willing to hire them illegally and pay them illegally to take advantage of our competitive economic system.
I would like you to publicly address your error in the statements you have made. You are sworn to uphold the laws of the US, including all immigration and labor laws. You are the example for all to follow in the labor field. You must tell the world and especially all those US Citizens and Legal Immigrants who are unemployed or underemployed that it is ILLEGAL for any ILLEGAL ALIEN to work and receive compensation of any amount in the US! Also you must tell the employers that they are breaking the law by hiring illegals and they will be punished! That is your duty and your job! Your statements have further encouraged the criminals that they will not be punished, but rewarded for their criminal activity.
May we please have your corrections to your statement? Thank you for your service and for doing the right thing - No Amnesty, No Dream Act, No Comprehensive Immigration Reform until all criminal illegal aliens are back in their own countries, our borders are secure and we fully enforce our laws. We need the labor but it must be LEGAL workers - we love our Legal Immigrants and what they bring to our country, but we abhor the criminal illegal aliens who have no moral character and believe the best way to do things is the criminal way!
Thank you very much for your time,
Sincerely,
Robin S Dean, JD
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