H.R. 2885 would open up jobs, save taxpayers billions, and reunite families

Put three of this month’s big immigration stories together, add a critical statistic missing from all of them and you get a powerful argument for passing the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885).

First big story: net immigration (legal and illegal) from Mexico to the U.S. has dropped to zero (“For first time since Depression, more Mexicans leave U.S. than enter” Washington Post, 4/24/2012).
Second big story: illegal immigration by unaccompanied youth has increased more than 90 percent over the past year (“Child migrant surge to US stresses support system” Associated Press, 4/28/2012).
Third big story: illegal workers collect billions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers by fraudulently claiming dependents who aren’t in the country (“Tax loophole costs billions,” WTHR Indianapolis, 4/27/2012).
Missing statistic: approximately 8 million illegal workers held U.S. jobs as recently as 2010 (“Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010,” Pew Hispanic Center, 2/1/2011)

Millions of foreign nationals, encouraged by the lack of workplace enforcement in the U.S., have chosen to separate their families to live and work illegally in America. Spanish-language media has painted a brutal picture of abandoned communities in the sending countries:

El Universal reported in 2003 that the Mexican state of Zacatecas has grown accustomed to fathers leaving their young wives and children behind. Some of the wives later joined their husbands; some children eventually took the dangerous illegal journey themselves and some families waited years to hear from a loved one, only to learn that he had started another family in the States. In 2009, Mexican President Felipe Calderon told the Associated Press: “Every single migrant to the United States is one family that is losing the father, or one family that is losing a son.”

Today, reports tell us that the economic downturn, increased enforcement and improving conditions in Mexico – the top sending country – have reduced illegal immigration from our Southern neighbor down to zero, net. That’s good news for unemployed U.S. workers and good news for Mexican communities who may keep their families together. Except we have also learned that the number of youth immigrating illegally – many seeking family in the U.S. – has skyrocketed.

Illegal employment is as bad as ever. While many illegal aliens go home when they can’t find work, most illegal workers who have jobs have stayed, depriving unemployed Americans of jobs and depriving their dependents back home of their presence.

Millions of illegal workers have made money off family members they have left behind by fraudulently collecting child tax credits from the U.S. government. Illegal workers in Indiana told WTHR, a local television station: “if the opportunity is there…why not take advantage of it?” The IRS knowingly paid out $4.2 billion to illegal workers last year and says they will continue to do so until Congress tells them to stop.

Millions of economic opportunists have turned to illegal immigration as a means to a more profitable end. They chose to break up their families but fraudulently claim them on their tax returns in in order to collect U.S. taxpayer funded returns. They will continue to do so until Congress tells them to stop.

Only four states (Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, and South Carolina) require all employers to use E-Verify. A few others require some employers. But unless they work on a federal contract, employers are prohibited by federal law from E-Verifying their existing workforce, even if they wanted to. Only a federal law like the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 2885) can go after the 8 million who are already illegally employed, open up millions of jobs for unemployed Americans, save taxpayers billions of dollars, and send a clear message to illegal workers that they should return to their homes and their families.

JEREMY BECK is the Director of the Media Standards Project for NumbersUSA