Illegal Immigration

Are people who are in the country illegally law-abiding?

I often hear students say that people in the US illegally are otherwise law-abiding and hard-working. They may be hard-working, but it is not possible that they are otherwise law-abiding.

If an illegal immigrant is driving without insurance, that is illegal.

If an illegal immigant is using someone else's social security number, or a false one, in order to gain employment, that is illegal.

("According to an affidavit filed by an ICE agent in conjunction with this week's arrests, 76 percent of the 968 employees on the company's payroll over the last three months of 2007 used false or suspect Social Security numbers.")

If an illegal immigrant is being paid without the employer paying unemployment insurance, etc.--that is, is being paid "under the table"--that is illegal.

There are other less obvious examples. A few years ago a friend of mine was moving and so had a number of bicycles standing in his front yard. A car stopped suddenly in front of his house, on a busy street, and got out of the car to look at the bicycles, thinking that my friend was selling the bicycles. Two vehicles driving behind this car rear-ended the stopped car and the passengers got out of those cars, one of them obviously injured. The individuals in the first car, who caused the accident, apparently lacked insurance and may well have been in the country illegally. If that is the case, then you can add leaving the scene of an accident to the list of illegal actions that someone in the country is likely to commit. (Another thought: what is the financial cost to US citizens of people in the country illegally driving without insurance? I would guess that it is considerable.)

The fact is, once you enter a country illegally, it is probably next to impossible not to break the law in other ways in order to stay and work in the country illegally.

Addendum:

"The affidavit cited unnamed sources who alleged that some company supervisors employed 15-year-olds, helped cash checks for workers with fake documents, and pressured workers without documents to purchase vehicles and register them in other names."

Here are four additional examples of breaking the law from this article: people working who are less than the legal age; cashing checks using false identification; purchasing and then registering vehicles under false names.

"In addition, the affidavit alleged that company supervisors ignored a report of a methamphetamine drug lab operating in the plant. It also cited a case in which a supervisor blindfolded a Guatemalan worker and allegedly struck him with a meat hook, without serious injury."

Two more examples of breaking the law from this article: operating an illegal drug lab and striking a worker.

It should be noted that the lawlessness is not only on the part of those who work in the country illegally, but also on the part of those who hire them. A practice that produces this much lawlessness cannot be good.