Well some don't but I also know small American businessmen that hide their income by doing cash transactions under the table.

Studies I've seen seem to indicate that we actually get some benefit taxwise from the illegal workforce. If they don't work under the table, the must fake a social security number which means they're pouring money into a retirement system that they'll never get to use. Secondly, even if they are getting paid in cash, they have to spend money while they live here and every dollar they spend in our economy generates sales tax revenues for states and localities.

So, in essence you do get some payback, probably not enough but the blanket statement you made is false.

I would prefer as most would to severely minimize the illegal workforce back to where it like as I was growing up in Tucson. Of course back then there was a legitimate "brazeros" program in place where workers were registered and taxed like everyone else. My guess is those programs disappeared not because we became more liberal but because the business community found out they could get cheaper labor if the workers were forced to be here against the law.

Of course the fix to the problem doesn't lie in fences or raids on meatpacking houses. The responsibility for a final fix lies in each one of us deciding that goods and services cost real money, the kind of money where Americans can get by working for the firms that produce them. As long as we insist upon being spoiled by the dirt cheap goods and services that come from the abusive work conditions an illegal workforce allows, we have nobody to complain to.

I've done my tiny part. I have 4 palm trees at my house that I can't climb and trim the one or two times a year that they require. Guys in trucks that barely spoke English each year would drive down the street looking for trimming work and I was happy to pay the $25/tree to have them do it. My conscience got to me as I saw more and more Americans struggling to keep their businesses open so I now no longer hire someone unless they appear to be citizens and can speak English well. It now costs me $35 - $40 a tree to have a legitimate landscaper do the work. I think it's worth it.

Art