The Obama administration intensified a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants,

notifying another 1,000 companies in all 50 states Wednesday the government plans to inspect their hiring records. The audits, affecting such businesses as garment makers, produce growers and fast-food chains, result in the firing of every illegal immigrant found on a company's payroll. Larger employers have been increasingly targeted since the establishment earlier this year of an ICE audit office outside Washington.

Enforcement activity during the Bush administration focused on high-profile raids in which thousands of illegal immigrants were arrested and placed in deportation proceedings. Relatively few companies and their executives were prosecuted. In contrast, the Obama administration has made employers the center of its enforcement strategy because jobs are the magnet for illegal immigration, officials say. The strategy has been interpreted as an attempt by the president, who favors an overhaul of immigration laws, to show hard-liners he is cracking down on illegal immigration.

It draws flak from more than one part of the political spectrum. Advocates for immigrants say it forces workers to leave well-paying jobs with benefits for lower-paying positions in the underground economy. "I-9 audits do not diminish the unauthorized work force. Instead, they disrupt operations and expand the cash economy, as workers find jobs with bad-actor employers who exploit them," said Eliseo Medina, International Secretary-Treasurer of the Service Employees International Union.

Foes of illegal immigration, such as House Judiciary chairman Lamar Smith (R., Texas), say the audits are ineffectual because they don't result in deportations and enable dismissed illegal workers to find other jobs and displace Americans. Rep. Smith introduced legislation this week to make mandatory the use of E-Verify, an electronic database run by the government, which checks the work-eligibility of hires.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304186404576387843087137216.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#articleTabs%3Darticle

We should deport illegal aliens and prosecute employers that hire them. Both are breaking the law.

As long as there's a demand for illegal workers, people will continue coming here. The employers create the demand.

More to the point, the workers are just trying to make a living, whereas the employers are actively exploiting people for their own profit.

So you support breaking up families just because someone isn't a documented citizen? You do understand that there are reasons why people choose to cross illegally right? They aren't doing it just for fun.

and cheat others. They're just trying to put food on the table. But when caught, they're arrested and end up doing time. Laws should not be selectively enforced.

is why Obama, the Progressive Caucus, organized labor and a majority of the public support a path to citizenship as a coequal with enforcement as a solution to the problem.

Any reason why they shouldn't go back and apply like legal aliens did?

The only way to immigrate is through marriage, having a very special skill, or enough money (millions) to invest in a business.

That leaves regular people without a way to immigrate

Do you believe they come here illegally because it's more fun?

We don't have nearly enough jobs for our own citizens and other legal residents and many are so desperate they would accept any kind of a job. Our legal unemployed should not have to compete for jobs with illegal immigrants. I'm sorry, but in the current economic environment we need to look out for our own and if that means you can't immigrate here, then that is just too bad. I think you will find that policy applies in most other countries.

The same logic applies with respect to social services - we don't have the resources to adequately provide for our legal needy. Illegal immigrants should not have access to the limited resources we do have.

There are good reasons why legal immigration to the US is difficult. If and when things turn around, there might be an argument for loosening the policy, but forget it in the current economic climate.

I haven't noticed any great rush to prosecute torturers or those who commanded that others torture.

You were the one who took off on an unrelated tangent, I was just following your lead.

You said that laws should not be selectively enforced, I was merely pointing out that very serious infractions of the law are often selectively enforced (or non-enforced in this particular case).

And your point holds, if it can be proven that the crime was committed, the person committing the crime should face the consequences that the rest of us face--whether it's torture, stealing, etc. I'm saying this as the daughter of an immigrant, BTW.

They aren't undocumented. The problem is that all their unforged documents show that they are here illegally. I support preserving scarce American jobs and scarce American resources for people who obey our laws.

Now there's something Obama is doing right.