Watch migrants’ bosses, too

Re: “Trump, Biden play games while people suffer,” S.A. Inc., March 10:

Columnist Chris Tomlinson points out that parts of the Texas and the U.S. economy would collapse without the work of immigrants who have entered the country illegally, 572,000 of them in Houston alone. So the immigration debate is full of hypocrisy on all sides. It’s time for Americans to recognize the U.S. economy’s persistent need for lower-skilled labor.

The huge rise in U.S. border crossings is mostly caused by “unprecedented labor demand and the absence of legal channels to accommodate it,” according to Hein de Haas, an international migration expert.

Our dependence on illegal immigration is clearly seen in the lack of workplace enforcement. While these workers are in the service and construction industries, the federal government does not routinely check immigration status in the workplace. Prosecutions are very rare and fines are low for hiring immigrants who have entered the country illegally. It is politically impossible to really crack down on the industries that depend on these workers.

As Tomlinson and de Haas explain, this phony prohibition system leads to the suffering, insecurity and exploitation of immigrants.

I agree with de Haas, who advocates for some form of amnesty for the 11 million immigrants who crossed the border, as in Ronald Reagan’s 1986 immigration law, which allowed immigrant laborers to move back and forth across the border legally so they didn’t feel compelled to settle here.

America needs to make a serious investment in efficient processing of asylum claims and serious workplace enforcement.

A phony prohibition system on immigrant workers, especially in service and agriculture jobs, leads to suffering, insecurity and exploitation, a reader says. San Francisco Chronicle file photo