[quote=FormerSanDiegan]Why not institute a guest worker program that requires a state permit (and maybe a federal one too while we are at it) ?
Make the state permit for CA $100 monthly for any month in which a worker is used, paid for by the company.
That’s 1200 per year per worker. If there are 4 million guest workers, this would approximately cover the $5B shortfall. If not, scale the fees up.
Make the fines for not registering a factor of 10 or 20x higher than the permit and generate additional revenue. Use this additional revenue to pay for the enforcement, e.g. through a bounty system. I am sure that some of the workers would report the employees to collect the bounty, thus forcing the employers to comply with the permit process.
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I like this idea. I’ve always felt that the easiest way to solve the problem of undocumented workers is to punish the employers that hire them. If it is BAD for business to hire undocumented workers, they won’t do it… and the workers will migrate back home. If business really needs the workers – they’ll be willing to pay to semi-legitimize them with a guest worker permit.
It always amazes me when I read about a chicken processing plant in the south or a kosher meat plant in the midwest getting an INS sweep – hundreds of workers hauled off – AND NO MANAGERS. You cannot convince me that the management of these businesses are unaware of the illegal status of their workforce.
Like any relationship – the worker/employer relationship has two parties. Both are breaking the law if the worker is undocumented.