Pretty soon, college students will have the chance to take on the jobs other Americans don’t want to do. Or will they?
We’re always complaining that we can’t find a part-time job that will work around our schedule. But if everything goes according to the Bush administration’s plan, 8.7 million jobs will be made available.
Thousands of letters will be sent to employers warning them of fraudulent Social Security numbers that employees are using to work.
If employers fail to fix the problem after 90 days, they can expect hefty fines.
In other words, most undocumented immigrants will lose their jobs and finally please anti-immigrant groups by making a few more menial jobs available.
That is, if they even want to take those jobs, which include picking fruit, lawn mowing and underpaid cooking jobs. Let’s not forget about the dishwashing, house cleaning and other things your mother told you to do, but you just wouldn’t.
Maybe they’re not the most desirable jobs in the world. Someone must do them and, let’s face it, who else but a bunch of young kids with “study” time on their hands will take the menial jobs other people will be leaving?
Realistically, that won’t happen.
Bad immigration laws can lead to a vicious cycle, where the rich get richer and the poor get screwed. Factories hire undocumented workers who will literally take any job to feed their families, or to run away from a country that won’t help them out.
There’s always the bad employer who will take advantage of the unprotected by abusing these voiceless workers. There are others who will break a few rules in order to give them a break.
And it won’t just be undocumented immigrants who will be affected by the government’s latest crackdown on illegal aliens.
According to a Washington Post article, there are 17.8 million people with erroneous records on the Social Security database. Of that number, 12.7 million are native-born U.S. citizens whose names have changed because of marriage or something similar.
Already, a few people are fighting back over the Department of Homeland Security’s recent action.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney put a temporary restraining order on the decision, which will prevent the Social Security Administration from sending the letters and the DHS from fining employers.
After passing up an immigration overhaul over the summer, the Bush administration now wants to catch these workers at any cost to penalize them for trying to make a living.
Anti-immigrant groups say that the illegal immigrants “survival” excuse is not valid and that they should pay for their crimes.
Their crimes include being paid for raising other people’s babies, picking up other people’s trash and sewing other people’s clothes.
Maybe colleges can create internship programs so students can learn the skills needed to fill the allegedly stolen jobs that will surely open up when current employees disappear.
Julio Salgado is a senior journalism major and the assistant opinion editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.
