Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] International Legal Advice?

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Thu, 6 Jun 2002, Mikhail Kovalenko wrote:

> Michael wrote:
> > 
> > Or go the way I wish I'd done and just sneak illegally into the country
> > and forge documents etc. The INS is a pain.
> 
> The trouble starts when some "caring" folks start rallying for social
> services and driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. So you and I end
> up paying for them because they don't have to pay taxes. If you have a
> driver's license in the US, you're pretty much perceived by most as a
> legal resident.  :(

Can you really use just that to do an I-9?

But it's actually a bit more complicated than that.  In California,
they discovered a couple of things in the post-prop-187 world that
were a bit surprising.  The first was that a lot more of the
illegals/undocumenteds/whatever actually were paying taxes, but not
filing income tax returns and not really being eligible for things
like SS.  Obviously, this doesn't apply to "under the table" jobs,
but that's also a problem with employers, not just employees.  

One argument for allowing undocumented workers get some kinds of
documents is precisely that by having them, they will take "over the
table" jobs and pay more taxes.  Another argument is that documented
people are, by nature, easier to keep track of, and the government
seems to have a much more intense interest in doing a better job of
that these days.  Arguments against are also pretty obvious: there
are procedures for gaining entry that presumably have some reason to
exist and should be followed, routine documentation makes illegal
(and often very dangerous) immigration even more attractive for
would-be residents, unusual or uneven pressures can suddenly appear
in local social services networks, etc.  Of course, the last thing 
can happen even in the case of legal immigration.  I've been told 
that there was more than a bit of surprise here in Columbia when it 
became clear just how many Bosnians were settling in the area, and 
there was for a time a lack of an interpreter for that community in 
the school system (does anybody have details on this?).

jking


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