Silent Raids a Start for Immigration Reform, but Who Will Finish?

In an attempt to save face regarding the illegal immigration issue, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency recently began discussing an avenue which they believe shows that they know how to cure the infectious problem.  “Silent Raids”, announced as an immense step in immigration reform, is an activity where Federal Enforcement Agents quietly audit employee records of companies for possible illegal immigrants on their payroll.

“Silent Raids” is patching just one hole in a bucket leaking from two spots and allowing the water to continue trickling out.   A soft approach to a hard problem, the result of the raids includes no deportation processes and threatens only employers while as Republican Senator Jeff Sessions said, “Even if discovered, illegal aliens are allowed to seek employment elsewhere.”

The supply of illegal workers is in no way risked or lessened as a result of this supposed cure.  Illegal workers fired from one job can take their counterfeit papers down the street and be right back in the workforce again almost immediately.  Staying on the illegal worker part of the issue, a  New York Times article stated that one of the culprits who have been caught employing illegal aliens is applying for a federal guest worker program to import 1,200 short-term workers from countries such as Mexico. Yet in 2006, as NPR reported nearly half of illegal immigrants overstayed their visas. Hence, the aftermath of this “tough enforcement” is adding salt to an already infected wound.

Bottom line: ICE believes it is the businesses and not the aliens that are the criminals and has once again showed an nontraditional amnesty to illegal aliens who are free from charges and fines.  The business on the other hand should look out.

This is not to say punishment shouldn’t be given to the businesses that employee illegal aliens but considering that the latter actually have the word illegal in their name, some brunt of the force should be felt on their side as well.  Nonetheless, once again the real criminal that is the illegal alien walks away while the American business is threatened with no replacement and full retribution.

Senator Sessions continued his statement raising yet another gap in the “silent raid” program.  Jobs which are already scarce are now being threatened by illegal aliens even further as they attempt to find other avenues of work.  The raids response of illegal aliens attempting to find jobs elsewhere without threat, the small but surviving available jobs is threatened further. In addition, with the scarcity, wages are likely to plummet with the availability of such cheap labor that, as shown by ICE’s recent actions, can do no wrong.  Meaning: While illegal aliens look for other jobs, the already lessening availability of employment for legal citizens as well as their pay will further decline. 

It is not a step toward the security of this nation or the security of our borders, it is for amnesty.   This word is the only word in Barack Obama’s dictionary when it comes to immigration and it seems now he is no longer shying from saying it out loud.    While ICE Chief John Morton calls this the start of “a culture of compliance” for employers, the criminals that are the illegal aliens walk free.  This just once again shows what the President and his followers really want out of these “work-site roundups”. 

In the same New York Times Article, Obama was quoted discussing avenues such as the “silent raids”, President Obama stated the program was to start a path for “a legislative overhaul to give legal status to millions of illegal immigrants”.  Although Border Management Strategies President Mark Reed and others may describe these searches as an opportunity for the illegal immigration issue to have “No trauma, no drama, no families being torn apart,” the nation’s structure after this agenda may be a different story.