During a time of unacceptable unemployment of both skilled and unskilled workers it is obviously necessary to replace foreign workers especially illegal workers with American citizens. To attack the problem we need to direct our efforts to ask why businesses hire foreign workers.

It is not because American workers are not skilled enough for the work. According to the Federal Department of Labor the unemployment rate for college graduates in the United States is over 5% last November. Augusta state senator Hardie Davis stated recently that there are over 5,000 unemployed engineers in Georgia. UGA and Georgia Tech are busting at the seems with future graduates with advanced skills who are more than ready to meet the limited demand for workers in this anemic economy. So the primary driving force is not that the businesses cannot find American workers who can meet their job descriptions.

In a 2004 report for the Programmers Guild, H-1B visa workers make $13K less than Americans in the same occupation and state. The same can be observed among low wage foreign workers in agriculture and light industry. Foreign workers legal or illegal are less likely to unionize or agitate for benefits. Foreign workers are more likely to be victims of the seasonality of some industries thereby making them a burden on social programs when furloughed. Health care costs, housing costs, and transportation costs are born by the taxpayers not the employers and there are no retirement obligations to temporary workers. In effect the society is subsidizing the companies who hire foreign workers thereby giving unethical companies an incentive to not look very hard for American workers.

What can be done? First greatly increase the fees associated with importing or sponsoring foreign workers who do not have legitimate family ties to the country. If a business is forced to pay $20,000 for each employee they fly in from a foreign country, they will look harder for an American citizen who could do the same job. The money could be set aside for scholarships for American students going into the reportedly under served field.

Next, require employers of foreign workers to be liable for all social services costs especially health care costs for their employees especially if they find out their employee is an illegal workers. Sponsors of HB1 visa holders pledge to reimburse the government if their sponsored worker gets government assistance. Employers of illegal workers need to be on the hook for that as well. In practice this will allow a hospital to go after a hypothetical company like a landscaping company whose illegal workers gets injured at home and needs a government/hospital charity program to pay for the care. Foreign workers who qualify for WIC or housing assistance will have their employer reimburse the taxpayers.

Finally, illegal workers do not get unemployment and often find that they cannot afford to go back home. A program could be set up to send unemployed foreign workers legal or illegal back home and get their former employers to pay for it. Furloughed workers would offer evidence that they were formerly employed in order to allow the government to fine the unethical employer. Part of the fine would be used to transport the illegal worker back home. To incentivize the illegal, they would not be charged with a crime provided their former employer is sufficiently punished.

Mike Seigle