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Does TXSIP support a secure border?
We strongly support enhanced border security. We believe this to be a top priority. We support all efforts to stop unwanted and illegal entry into the United States.
Does TXSIP support amnesty?
TXSIP opposes granting citizenship to any immigrant that has not first satisfied all the requirements necessary to obtain citizenship under United States law.
Are immigrant workers taking jobs away from American citizens?
No. The fact of the matter is that working immigrants are filling jobs that would not otherwise be filled. In addition, areas that have seen increases in foreign-born populations have also seen increases in the employment of native born workers.
We have a record 4.5% unemployment rate that reflects virtually full employment. Indeed, we have a labor shortage.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 1993, construction firms employed 4,779,000 people. Today, there are 7,227,000 employees in the industry - a 52 percent increase. By comparison, overall employment growth was 20 percent during the same period. There is an ongoing labor shortage in the construction industry and further shortages are projected in the future.
You say that restricting immigrant labor would negatively impact jobs held by citizens, how so?
Millions jobs would not have been filled without the influx of immigrant workers, both legal and illegal. Consequently, the wages paid to these workers and spent here in the United States have supported thousands of new businesses, many if not most, owned by citizens.
If the construction industry loses its labor supply it will not be able to finish current jobs or bid on future work. The effect of this economic loss would ripple through all of the industries that work with and supply the construction industry. Architects, engineers, insurance professionals, attorneys, material suppliers, etc. would be severely impacted.
Aren't the illegal immigrants escalating our health care costs, our education costs, and the costs of many social services?
Certainly. The larger your social net, the more increases in your population (whether legal or illegal) will increase the cost of that social net.
TXSIP is not an advocate for "immigrant rights" to public education, health care, or any other social benefits.
We believe that access to those social benefits should be a part of a comprehensive immigration reform package that encourages immigrants to come out of the shadows, be identified, and properly taxed. Only then will the additional social costs of a growing immigrant population be offset by additional tax revenues, etc.
One thing that will not offset these costs is an enforcement first approach that penalizes "good faith" employers that are right now trying to comply with the law and tax properly. Crackdown on these employers will send immigrant workers to the "cash-only" system. Any social security, payroll, and FIT taxes currently being collected on these workers would be lost.
Aren't you guys are just a bunch of criminals trying to legalize your own bad behavior?
TXSIP is made up of a coalition of employers who have made every effort to comply with the law and currently are in compliance with the law. We all require new employees to complete I-9s and submit the appropriate IDs and social security numbers. We do not hire employees if they cannot meet those requirements because that is what the law requires.
Over the last fifteen years, we have made efforts to recruit new workers to the construction industry from every available source: prison to work program, high school recruitment, job fairs, and welfare to work programs. Still, immigrant workers have filled our ranks. We have asked the questions we can legally ask and collected I-9s. We have acted in good faith and followed the law.
We believe it would be a mistake to penalize such "good faith" employers. Moreover, enforcement against "good faith" employers will simply drive the immigrant workers to the open arms of less scrupulous cash-only operators. This would result in lost tax revenue and eliminate any hope of identifying and properly taxing these immigrant workers.
"Good faith" employers should be part of the solution, not the scapegoat for the immigration problem.
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Political Advertisement Paid by "Texans for Sensible Immigration Policy"
P.O. Box 7011 · Houston, Texas 77248-7011 · 713.869.8346 · info@tsiponline.com
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| Copyright © 2006 - Texans for Sensible Immigration Policy |
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