Few issues bring about as heated arguments as that of illegal immigration. With the release of a list of 1,300 suspected illegal immigrants within Utah just the other week, it is unlikely that the issue will be resolved anytime soon. It will take even longer to resolve the actions of the suspected state employees that released the list. Not only are these actions tactless, they are ineffective. Only by regulating and prosecuting business owners that hire undocumented workers will we be able to effectively solve the problem we know as illegal immigration. Senate Bill 81 was passed in Utah that sought to deal with just that.

S.B. 81 verifies that a job applicant’s social security number matches up with the person’s identification. Loretta Harper, vice president of Human Affairs at the U, said, “The e-verification process, known as I-9, is a computer system that runs the applicant’s information in order to determine and to verify the rights of those seeking employment to work within the United States.” She said the program has just recently been moved online, and that the U has been following the Private Employer Verification Act since July of 2009.

Although this seems to be a wonderful idea, it has proven to be far from effective. Virtually no regulation is in place to make sure that employers follow this system, and when it is found that the individual does not check out correctly in the system, they can still be hired and are allowed eight days to smooth out the issue. As of 2009, the Social Security Administration said19 percent of people it hired were not run through the system. Overall, the results fail to adhere to the goals. This is an attempt to regulate without an actual method of enforcement.

Many claim that to stop the flow of illegal aliens into the United States, we need to put more effort into border security. This plan does not take into account how desperate those trying to hop the border are. These individuals are coming here so they can provide for their families. It is doubtful that any wall can be built that will hold back the wave of parents desperate to feed their children.

Although admittedly there is smuggling for drugs or arms, there are no legitimate statistics or information that back up Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer’s claim that “the majority of the illegal trespassers that are coming into the state of Arizona are under the direction and control of organized drug cartels,” as quoted in The Huffington Post. This kind of statement is not only untrue, but promotes the same sort of racism and hostility Arizona’s most recent legislation encourages.

Although a secure border should be a goal, it is also important to look at the supply side rational for illegal immigrants. Business owners are constantly looking to increase profit. That is that nature of capitalism and there’s nothing wrong with that, until this effort to cut corners results in the exploitation of human beings. Like the downcast migrant worker of the Great Depression, illegal immigrants finds themselves in a position where they must work for a given wage and that labor rate becomes overhead reduction by the business owner.

There needs to be sufficient penalties put in place by the federal government in order to dissuade employers from hiring those who are undocumented, better than a simple waiting period if you don’t pass the screening. These penalties need to be strictly enforced, and must far outweigh the cost for all employers including state and local governments. Only by doing this can we put an end to a practice that perpetuates the exploitive reason for illegal immigration.