Hey, W4 Paperwork is Hard

Lou Dobbs, says a piece in The Nation, "reserved a special venom for the employers who hire them, railing against "the employer who is so shamelessly exploiting the illegal alien and so shamelessly flouting US law" and even proposing, on one April 2006 show, that "illegal employers who hire illegal aliens" should face felony charges."

So Dobbs is probably turning himself in right now, on citizen's felony charges:

Based on a yearlong investigation, including interviews with five immigrants who worked without papers on his properties, The Nation and the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute have found that Dobbs has relied for years on undocumented labor for the upkeep of his multimillion-dollar estates and the horses he keeps for his 22-year-old daughter, Hillary, a champion show jumper.

You might think I'm bringing this up to excoriate Meg Whitman, who's had a little illegal alien hiring trouble lately. But there is a broader issue here, which is this: Republicans making aliens an issue are working at cross-purposes to their own interests. If you want to deregulate business and lower the cost of doing business, illegal immigrants are a perfect solution. Let business hire whoever's available! In fact, with all these illegal human resources running around, business can't HELP but hire them. They have an obligation to the shareholders.

Ultimately, what Republicans want is for business to be able outsource, and for people like me to be driven to accept half of what I'm making now. It's their solution to unemployment - employ everyone for peanuts. And whatever illegals are around after the fences go up, turn a blind eye. It's an inelegant solution to stop people from crossing a multi-thousand mile border (not unlike nailing jello to a wall) but it's the only way to do something about immigration without disturbing business. And God forbid they should disturb business.

It's been so good to all of us lately.