Changing People's Minds About Illegals

Government estimates say there are around 12-20 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. Perhaps only 6-10 million of them hold jobs. It has been suggested that losing these workers would erode the viability of the countless industries that rely on them to fill the least attractive of jobs. It may well be that that there are jobs that do not attract Americans in sufficient numbers at the wages industries are willing to pay. However, according to elementary economics, a labor shortage would drive up wages for those jobs until they are filled by willing workers. The problem is that industries are not paying the full cost of foreign workers. They offload much of the cost on the unsuspecting taxpayer. How attractive would these foreign workers be if their employers were required to provide full family health care insurance coverage for them? I guarantee you the employers would see things in a different light. Likewise, if a living wage were to be determined by local unions in concert with the Department of Labor based on historical trends beginning back in the 1950s, as adjusted for inflation, and if employers were required to pay this wage to both foreign and domestic workers, they would again see the value of illegal aliens and immigrants in general in a different light.