In Illegal Immigration Debate, To Hire Or Not? - NPR

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129028587

In the Western U.S., it's not hard to find someone who hires illegal immigrants. The real challenge is finding someone who will admit it on tape.

Annette — who agreed to give only her middle name — owns a two-bedroom condo in Phoenix, which she rents out. Her last tenant, a smoker, just moved away, and in order to fix the lingering cigarette smell, she needs a paint job. Annette's painter is not authorized to work in the U.S. In fact, he's not authorized to live here, either. His name is Raphael, and he's cheap. Annette says an American painter quoted her $1,200 for the job. Raphael charges $500 for a matter of five hours.

A couple miles south is Suzie Perry's backyard — which she laments is in disarray. The yard is messy because Perry no longer hires the undocumented workers that she had paid for 15 years to maintain it.

"We didn't really even think about its legality before. And now, that's sort of in the air. Like, should we be doing this or shouldn't we?" Perry says. Ultimately, Perry decided she shouldn't — but not because she was worried about breaking the law. She wanted to make a political statement. She says she's willing to let the weeds grow if it means fewer illegal immigrants cross into the United States. And if the labor force dries up — and yards across the country go untrimmed or condos go unpainted — Perry believes the immigration debate in America might move forward.

Meanwhile, Maroun and his wife will continue hiring their landscapers. So do they believe they're partly responsible for fueling an underground economy? "If I am, I don't have a problem with that," Maroun says. "This isn't about drug smuggling or criminals. This is about everyday people who are trying to better themselves."

It's also about everyday families giving them work. The question is: When decision makers do tackle comprehensive immigration reform, how will they deal with that reality?

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1. I wonder how anybody knows if the worker is illegal or not.

Aren't they sometimes simply "side jobs". But I do see the dilemma in an individual who makes a decision whether to hire a person who has to pay all the taxes or not. Not paying taxes makes things a whole lot cheaper. That is the true conflict.