Isn't illegal to employ an illegal immigrant?

It has been illegal to hire illegal immigrants all along. There are crackdowns on employers known to be hiring illegals in Maricopa County, AZ. The latest raids have been on Sizzler Restaurants in Phoenix. These illegals commit identity theft or purchase fake documents in order to get these jobs and of course some of these employers know they are illegal when they hire them. They hire them because they can pay them less than an American. The law is not enforced as much as it should be and when Joe Arpaio, the Maricopa Country Sheriff, does enforce it all he gets is flack or investigated by the feds (initiated by our former governor and current Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano). The feds created the EVerify system for employers to use but I believe it is voluntary not required.

In my opinion if the law were more widely enforced and the illegals could not get jobs they would stay in Mexico.

Really, call your congressmen and the media. There is such an uproar about illegals today that both should be VERY interested. If that doesn't work, then just keep calling once ot twice a week to the ICE hotline, and your congressmen. Sooner or later they will deal with the problem just to shut you up. To the people who say that it is ok to hire illegals, then just think about all the Americans that do not have jobs because these criminals are taking them away from us. I have a friend who used to have aroofing company about 7 years ago. It was VERY successful and he was able to support his family and his employees (he had 21) were able to support theirs, until the illegals moved into the area in large numbers. They effectively put him out of business because they work for next to nothing. Now my friend has had to sell his home and one of the families cars because he cannot make ends meet with the job he had to take after he went belly up. That isn't even thinking about the 21 others who lost their lively hood.

It is against federal statute to knowingly employ an illegal immigrant. Look at the I-9 Form, page 4 in the link. Any alien that wants to apply needs to have a Number assigned by the INS . The I-9 form is completed and verified by the employer, so they know if they are hiring someone without "authorization to work".

As we have learned in the recent weeks, laws are not necessarily written to be respected and followed. We have leaders of this country refusing to uphold federal laws; Holder is suing Arizona because the state officials have decided to follow the law and protect their citizens. Holder is arguing that this law is unconstitutional. So, whether or not it's illegal to employ illegal immigrants is irrelevant to this administration. I think we are to shoulder part of the blame ourselves; we have little mom and pop businesses that do hire illegals no matter what the law says. And yes the law says it's illegal to work in this country without a work permit.

This issue on illegal immigration is really a can of worms.

But to answer your first question, yes it is illegal to employ anyone who you know to be an illegal immigrant.

Now the thing is that you can actually swing by places where day laborers (meaning illegals) are openly located and in places where there are even visible signs for such and you can "hire" them by the day or by project or whatever you need. And that is pretty much allowed. Yes along with illegal migrant farm workers. Apprarently there are exceptions to this rule.

It's not a matter of opinion. It is law. It is illegal to hire an illegal immigrant.

actually it is illegal to hire undocumented workers and if caught u can loose your business license but since our american government is weak right now and soo many of americans are of latino anscestry is a hot button issue...

however migrant workers are entirely different if properly documnted they can work legally butthier wages if not reported is illegal

and why should illegals get the same rights we do and get jobs when they don't pay taxes? i took the citizenship exam as a 2nd grader i was adopted from korea and i wasnt born in this country but u know what i did do? i took the exam and became a naturalized american citizen and learned the language as a little 5 year old girl. i pay my taxes and i file them yearly , i am a registered voter... ive never gotten jury duty but if so i would do my duty as a citizen.... if a illegal wants to live here i think they ought to make military partiicipation a requirement. if they think its so greta here they are willing to sneak in and leech off tax paying citizens they sure can fight for it... and since they are not citizens .. they should have no rights that taxpaying citizens have... screw political correctness for once and damn any political party they both blow smoke out of thier mouths and for nce the government needs to step up and give back since it really hasnt in a long time

Yep, It is illegal. If the feds don't back up the arrest then we (the states) should stop enforcing their laws, fed drug charges, IRS, counterfeit currency, etc... States pay an insane amount to arrest and charge for fed crimes. We should just enforce our own laws.

You're asking our opinion on whether it's illegal to hire illegal immigrants? I don't quite understand. That's not really a matter of opinion.

every time they bust a company for hiring illegals and pull a raid......americans flock to apply for the jobs.