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Workers and wages
This should be common sense: Denying back pay for illegal immigrants is wrong
Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.
A group of immigrant laborers is suing a cleaning company that does work at posh Strip restaurants, saying the company made them work long hours and never paid them what they were promised. The lawsuit says the workers made as little as $4.40 an hour, well below the minimum wage in Nevada.
As Michael Mishak reported in Monday’s Las Vegas Sun, the suit filed against Bravo Pro Maintenance raises the question of whether illegal immigrants are entitled to back wages.
Attorney Matthew Callister, who is representing the workers, said the situation was akin to “indentured servitude,” noting that illegal immigrants are reluctant to speak out because of the threat of being deported.
There is a question, though, about whether the workers are entitled to back pay. In 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a case regarding an illegal immigrant who said he was fired for participating in a union-organizing effort.
In a 5-4 ruling written by then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist, the court found that giving illegal immigrants back pay would “encourage the successful evasion of apprehension by immigration authorities, condone prior violations of the immigration laws, and encourage future violations.”
The rabid anti-illegal-immigration types will take heart in the ruling because it underscores their simplistic and mean view of illegal immigrants: Arrest them and ship them back to wherever they came from.
Legal experts note that the Bravo Pro case involves a different part of labor law than the one the Supreme Court took up. Still, the Supreme Court’s ruling will undoubtedly come into play.
We cannot judge the Bravo Pro case, but it is clear to us is that the Supreme Court’s decision was wrong.
There’s a basic — and ancient — principle: Workers deserve their wages. Even the anti-illegal-immigration crowd should understand that. Besides, denying someone what he is owed — whether here legally or not — is downright un-American.
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I agree make Bravo Pro pay them what is owed. Then have the feds arrest them and fine them for breaking federal immigration laws and then ship them to the farthest corner in their country of origin. I have said if they aren't punished harshly they will be doing repeat performances for the money. Also fine Bravo Pro for knowingly hire illegal aliens
Democrats are in a catch-22.
They do not want to support an apartheid system where illegals have lower rights than legals in the labor system.
Yet, they know if they start to enforce labor laws then business would greatly reduce their hiring of illegals because it would bring the cost up. That in turn will hurt the Democrats made goal.....power. The more illegals the more potential Democratic voters therefore the more power is gained by Democrats.
So which is it....enforce the labor laws or embrace apartheid but have more power.
Democrats fully follow the ends justify the means logic so I expect them to embrace apartheid.
Hey.....I have thought....why not enforce all the labor laws...including the ones where you have have a work visa or be a US citizen to work in the USA and have a valid SSN card.
I bet that all the illegals in this case used fraud SSN numbers. They might even be using your SSN number. Will law enforcement arrest them for that?
I am not sure if one enters into a business arrangement that is based on illegal activity if the labor laws are enforceable. For instance, a pimp and prostitute have a arrangement. Can the prostitute later sue for overtime? I doubt it because they would have to list all the illegal activity.
"Simplistic and mean"? Simplistic, yes. Mean, no.
Arrest them and ship them back to wherever they came from.
The real issue here isn't about back pay or about illegal aliens LV SUN ..... It's about educated wealthy American business folks who know darn well what they are doing when they hire these people and by doing so are cheating both the illegals and the American citizens that need work.
IF ...We aren't willing to address these business types then we don't have an illegal alien problem in America we have a it's ok to do whatever we want to achieve the American dream problem.
Isn't that what the the illegal aliens are doing when they sneak into this country?
Gotta agree with you again, Sun.
"...it is clear to us is that the Supreme Court's decision was wrong."
In 2002 Rehnquist was senile.
"There's a basic -- and ancient -- principle: Workers deserve their wages."
It's called "quantum meruit," Latin for "as much as he deserved," the actual value of services performed. It's as old as written law.
Watch this issue closely...
The "illegals" attorney will try to get his clients resident status for testifying against the bad employer. Just watch...
This isn't difficult. As soon as anyone in law enforcement is informed about criminal activity - like an illegal alien loose in the U.S. - they apprehend them and either deport them or imprison them. What's so hard about that?
The Sun - and liberals in general - needs to realize that someone here illegally has no rights. What is the matter with you? Why do you have so little respect for our laws? Why aren't you standing up and defending other criminals like rapists and murderers? Two-faced idiots!
larry5 -- where do you get the idea "someone here illegally has no rights"? Criminal charges automatically put rights, such as due process, in place. As for respecting laws, liberties are far more important than marching lock-step with the likes of you.
Before you fire up your modem again, you should first consider how government itself is the biggest law breaker -- and criminals -- of all.
Back pay for the workers and fines for the company, plus an investigation into their hiring practices to see if they have a habit of exploiting illegals. Make the company pay, not the workers. So long as the market for illegals exists, the supply will continue, it's as simple as that.
As to arresting & deporting the workers, only if they have a criminal record that goes beyond being an illegal (not counting minor traffic violations). Until the demand for illegals is suppressed & the borders actually controlled, it'd be pointless & expensive to try and reduce the numbers already here. We should instead focus our efforts on the getting a better handle on the predatory employers (and punishing them) and the predatory illegals (and deporting them).
Both the Dems & the GOP have failed and failed miserably when it comes to border security, immigration, and preventing labor exploitation. Both seem to believe they'll benefit by doing as little as possible for as long as possible. The "do nothing" Congress needs to be cleaned & cleaned thoroughly in 2010.
Sorry to say, but if you do not deport illegals when found, you are also a part of the problem. One of the main reasons so many illegal immigrants remain in the U.S. is that that are not removed until they have broke a major law, like murder, rape, kidnapping and all the other things that fill up the prisons. Then we all sit around and cry about why that horrible person who committed such a terrible crime was allowed to stay in the U.S.
Everyone involved in the recent bombing murder at the Luxor were in the U.S. illegally. Now the taxpayers of Nevada will be paying to keep these two in prison for years to come. I bet one of you smart guys can tell us what percent of prison inmates are illegals.
You may call these illegals by a number of politically correct names, but they are still illegal aliens according to U.S. immigration laws.
"You may call these illegals by a number of politically correct names, but they are still illegal aliens according to U.S. immigration laws."
LarryVegas -- and according to the invitation engraved on the Statue of Liberty, they were invited to be here.
KillerB. As I remember this is a country of laws. And the law calls them illegal immigrants as per the Immigration and Nationality Act.
And no matter how you spin it, they are still illegal immigrants or aliens by the INA. Unless we have moved from a nation of laws to a nation of men.
NLV: To say that the war on illegals is expensive and pointless is....well....wild, baby.
I hope you would also say that the war on drugs is pointles and expensive and that you do not support that. I, for the record, do.
Give them their money or not. Who will care. But...dont forget to kick 'um out!
I say a huge round of applause is deserved by those workers who, though bleedin screwed, stood up with absolutely nothin to lose and cried foul believin that in a land better than their own, there might possibly be some kind of justice.
You think our culture sucks? Look around.
We're luckier than we know. But our liberties and opportunities are the clear tragic flaw; we, a nation of immigrants, can't keep 'em out!
pbim72 -- "War on illegals"? No doubt it'd be just as successful as the "war on drugs" has been.
While most Americans would probably support securing the borders, increased penalties on employers who hire illegals, Real ID & eVerify, and the deportation of those arrested on other charges, I don't believe for a minute there's any stomach for a '"war on illegals". I can just see it now -- ICE sweeping through the schools & hospitals, setting up checkpoints in "suspect" neighborhoods, all to grab Maria/Natalya/Ming & her two kids and send them back to Mexico/Russia/China (never mind that the kids have never been there). Yeah, that'll work.
To suppress illegal immigration, the first two initial steps have to be securing the border & penalizing employers who hire them. The only way to do those is to reduce the likelihood of fake papers being used -- meaning Real ID & eVerify. Until that happens, anything else that's done is just window dressing to disguise incompetence/malfeasance in DC -- and I see no reason to waste my tax dollars on more window dressing for the likes of Obama/Reid/Ensign/Berkely.
No airweare, we citizens as a nation want them out , but of a government for the big business want them in.