DHS Should Threaten Employers Of Illegals, Not Butter Them Up

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is “cultivating a relationship with business groups” seeking to protect employers who employ illegal aliens in violation of federal law now that Markwayne Mullin is its secretary, according to The Washington Post. But the only relationship DHS should cultivate with business groups and employers knowingly breaking federal immigration law is one that ends with an investigation and, when warranted, prosecution.

The Post reported that “business groups” concerned “about losing workers to aggressive immigration enforcement” are seeking relationships with the DHS now that Mullin is in charge, after they had “been rebuffed by former secretary Kristi L. Noem.”

DHS officials met with the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition in July, according to The Post, marking the first meeting between DHS and the organization since President Donald Trump took office. The Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, “which represents the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and major trade associations that depend on immigrant labor,” lobbies for amnesty and ways to make cheap, foreign labor more available. Until now, these business groups had been unable to gain a “foothold at the agency” since ICE began ramping up arrests, The Post reported.

One lobbyist told the Post that under Noem, the agency emphasized its focus was on removing illegal workers and that the agency was “unapologetic” about doing so. But Mullin “brought Senate staffers with ties to the business community to DHS … and his staff quickly set about trying to mend relations.”

But there should be no “mending” of relations with businesses or organizations seeking government protection for their illegal labor force.

Federal law in 8 U.S.C. § 1324a prohibits employers from hiring or recruiting illegal aliens or continuing to employ illegal aliens after learning they are illegal. Knowingly hiring at least 10 illegal aliens in a 12-month-period can result in fines and even prison time.

The business groups lobbying appear to be openly admitting their businesses rely on illegal labor, which is why they’re trying to talk to DHS. But rather than asking how they can comply with federal law and use legal visa programs already available, they’re asking the Trump administration to help preserve their access to cheap, illegal labor and push for de facto amnesty.

If employers know they will face no consequences for hiring illegals — and may even be able to get DHS to change how it enforces immigration law — they have every incentive to keep doing it. Taking a meeting with these lobbyists only reinforces that idea. That the DHS — under Mullin’s “leadership” — is even entertaining such discussions is wrong and should be grounds for Mullin’s removal.

Trump was elected in large part to carry out mass deportations and restore our sovereignty. That mandate should not be subject to the whims of businesses or employers who profit from illegal immigration. Secondly, by holding businesses and employers that knowingly break the law accountable, the Trump administration would reduce the demand for illegal labor and make future potential illegal immigration unappealing.

Further, rejecting the demands of employers who knowingly are breaking federal law would also protect American workers from being forced to compete with a massive illegal workforce that suppresses wages. The 2010 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report on “The Impact of Illegal Immigration on the Wages and Employment of Black Workers” found that illegal immigration “has tended to depress both wages and employment rates for low-skilled American citizens, a disproportionate number of whom are black men.”

There are at least 8 million illegal aliens in the labor force, according to a 2022 estimate from the Economic Policy Institute, meaning America doesn’t merely have an illegal alien problem, but an enormous labor law violation problem that is continually sustained by employers willing to place cheap labor above the interests of American workers and the sovereignty of this country.

DHS should not be working with businesses to maintain this cycle that undermines American workers and American sovereignty. DHS should be working with law enforcement to dismantle it, and that means holding businesses that break immigration law accountable.

Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2