[14] Lawsuits against the Employers of Illegal Immigrants to Recover Governmental Costs for Healthcare, Schooling, Lost Tax Revenues and for Unjust Enrichment with a 50% Reduction (Amnesty Incentive) for Voluntary Disclosure of the Illegal Hiring Practices

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The nation's immigration problem is as important to many Americans as the war in Iraq, the abortion issue or the loss of jobs to outsourcing.

Trying to come up with an appropriate solution to a very complicated problem is difficult, but the political answer seems to require that illegal immigration be ended, and that immigration in the future be determined by Congress and enforced by appropriate enforcement measures at the nation's borders, in the countries sending the illegal immigrants, and within the 50 states to find and return illegal immigrants arriving after a certain date (when jobs for newly-arrived illegals are effectively eliminated).

Employers Cause and Profit from Illegal Immigration and Should Be Required to Pay for the Damages Done to Americans

Immigrants have made this country and will continue to make their contribution, but immigration beyond the number set by Congress imposes an unwanted cost on Americans and the domestic economy, which the employers of illegals should be required to pay.

An American employer hiring 10,000 illegals understands what it is doing, and the risks. The employer is saving itself perhaps $20,000 per year in wages and benefits per illegal, for a total saving of $200 million per year, which shows up in the employer's end-of-year profits. The price of the employer's stock goes up, on a one-time basis, perhaps $2 billion in market value (to capitalize the newly-found annual profits of $200 million), and the lucky stockholders see a significant appreciation in the price of their stock in the employer. The top executives probably will take $50 million to $250 million of such profit for themselves, in a variety of ways, for figuring out how to cheat the system and bring in big profits for the employer.

There are losers, of course. Individual Americans throughout the country are the main losers. They have lost higher-paying jobs to the lower-paid illegals, to the extent of $200 million per year (the amount saved by the employer). The various governments lose the payroll and income taxes that would have been paid at the higher wage levels. Competitors of the employer are driven out of business because of the substantial (but illegal) lowering of costs of the employer, and the creditors of (lenders to) the failed competitors lose all or part of the moneys they lent to the competitors. Local, state and federal governments, governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations (such as hospitals) are often required to provide more services to the illegals and their families because of the below-standard wages they are being paid.

If elected as Attorney General of New York State, I would work hard to end illegal immigration without the requirement of any statute - merely by seeking to impose very substantial liability on the past and present employers of illegals. What once was viewed as a $200 million windfall each year, could turn into a $ billion nightmare for the largest employers of illegals, and such liability would certainly require most businesses to think many times before hiring illegals in the future.

As a result, most of the jobs available to illegals would become unavailable, and there would be far less attraction to make illegal entry into the United States. Without the jobs for illegals, there would be far less reason for leaving one's own country for the purpose of entering the United States illegally in search of jobs that probably cannot be found.

The liability is so great that an amnesty period would probably induce many employers of illegals to try to settle their liability with the various claimants involved, and pay only 50% of the amount they really owe.

Towns and villages could pursue these claims as well as large cities, states and the federal government. Also, the claim might be available to non-governmental organizations or governmental institutions that provided services free, or below market rates, to any of the illegals.

The net result would be to stop most of the illegal immigration; increase the number of jobs available in this country to citizens and legal residents, and the hourly rate would climb because of the unwillingness and inability of Americans with American-type obligations (rent, mortgage payments, car lease payments, tuition, food, vacation costs, and the other costs associated with living in America) to work for substandard wages.

The cost of food and other products would rise to an appropriate level, and the accelerator effect of money being spent in a community would provide support for more businesses, goods and services, as should be the case.

This in-country type of "outsourcing" of American jobs to foreign workers would be halted, which would benefit Americans and the American economy.

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